


Knight-errant

by Agnidivya



Series: Focal point [1]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: And Everything Else Inbetween, Appropriate Use of the Force, Cameos by various characters in the Star Wars universe, Eldritch Abominations, Force Shenanigans, Force Visions, Gen, Gods and Monsters, Growing Up, Inappropriate Use of the Force, Jedi Culture, Jedi Training (Star Wars), Learning important life lessons, Not exactly time travel, Psychological Trauma, Quote: The Force works in mysterious ways, The Force sends Ahsoka on chivalrous/glorious/ridiculous adventures, and everyone else gets dragged along for the ride, flaws in the Code, not exactly a fix it, weird Force stuff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-07
Updated: 2020-10-19
Packaged: 2021-03-02 23:22:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 17
Words: 62,244
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24055111
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Agnidivya/pseuds/Agnidivya
Summary: When Ahsoka first heard the song and touched infinity with her fingertips, she saw that skies and the sun were all twenty years younger. The Force kept telling that there was something she needed to remember, something that needed to change, something she needed to do no matter the cost. And the journey to that is proving to be long and arduous.
Relationships: Ahsoka Tano & Qui-Gon Jinn, Ahsoka Tano & Yoda, Anakin Skywalker & Ahsoka Tano, Obi-Wan Kenobi & Ahsoka Tano
Series: Focal point [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1746145
Comments: 118
Kudos: 298





	1. The ghost, the darkness and the fear

Three years is too young, yet three years is old enough to understand fear. Three years is when children start seeing the danger in the world around them, when they start exercising caution. Three years is when they start fearing the dark, when they start dreading the unknown. Three years is when they learn that they are not always safe. Three years is when they learn to give and not just yearn for safety.

Ahsoka was three years old when she looked out at the dark night and saw the inkiness sweep across her vision. She was a small one for her age, a runt. Yet her senses were keener than the rest. Mama said it was to give her a chance to survive, as much as the bigger children.

She felt fear, like all children as old as her, but that never stopped her from charging forward, a clarion cry giving her steps strength that she never knew she had. Mama said that she had so much energy and passion to make up for the build she never got.

Yet, here she was, looking out of the small window of her home in the dark of the night, a heavy feeling in her stomach that sat like a boulder. It was not her dinner, for she had had only some jerky to settle her tingly stomach at the time.

No, what she felt were the eyes. Sharp and hungry and just beyond the corner.

Her brilliant blue eyes narrowed as she pointed her stumpy montrals outside. Mama told her she had a grown-up’s hearing even though she was little more than a babe. But Mama did not understand that sometimes she just knew something was there or that something would happen.

So she listened and watched when most others would be in bed.

The shadows covered the grassy plains of the outskirts beyond her home at the edge of her small town. Her town was not as big as the cities ten klicks over, but it was more beautiful with soft toned homes and endless turu-grass savannahs, dotted with only a few tough trees.

She narrowed her eyes when she saw the shadows move. There was something there. She could feel it in her bones and in her mind.

Then the shadows shifted and she saw the hulking figure with pointed ears, crouched on fours. Silver eyes gleamed gently in the dark, focused on a point just beyond her reach.

She turned her head to where the eyes were focused. There stood Jabari and Adyan of the night patrol. They were talking, completely unaware of the hungry gaze resting on them.

She opened her mouth to shout at them to get away, but stopped.

No, there was a feeling in her, _instinct_ Mama called it, that told her that making any noise was a bad idea. She instead did something that the adults would argue was probably worse.

*****

The shadow crept closer, taking care to stay away from the lights that illuminated the conical structures around it. It silently climbed up the narrow poles of the eight feet tall electrical fence and landed gently on the other side with barely a rustle in the grass.

It then crept closer to the creatures that did not notice it was there, making sure to stay silent and hidden. It then came to a stop, silently calculating the distance to its prey and waited for the best moment to strike.

The two prey-creatures came closer, lost in their own sounds. It reared back on its hind legs and crouched low, ready to pounce.

Just a little closer, just a little more…

A slow snarl built up in its throat in anticipation.

Just a little closer…

The snarl turned into a startled roar as it felt a sudden spark of pain on its left flank. It then jumped out of the shadows and landed before its prey. It heard them shriek and run but did not care for its lost prey. No, it was looking for retribution.

And that is when it saw it. A tone the same at its fur, but small. A cub. By itself.

It was in luck. Cubs were easy and tender on its aging fangs.

And so, the hunt began.

*****

“Akul, Captain! There is an akul here. Send reinforcements”, Jabari yelled over the comms, not even waiting for the acknowledgement from the other end.

Adyan was pulling the larger rifles and grenades from the speeder. Both men barely waited before arming themselves. But froze when they heard a roar followed by a crash.

They turned and to their horror they saw the akul focused on chasing after something much smaller that was zipping beyond their line of sight.

*****

Ahsoka was fast, _agile_ Mama said, zooming down long stretches of empty pathways, zipping past any Togruta, zig-zagging around any obstacle in her path. It had made her a headache and a half during dinner when Mama put thimiar roast on her plate.

But now, that speed was what was saving her life. She ran as fast as her little legs could carry her, down the darkened streets as the akul chased after her.

The akul was bigger and faster and caught up to her in a matter of minutes. She sensed it right behind her as it pounced, head tilted with jaws open wide as it attempted to snatch her up. And she skid to a stop. The orange beast overshot and she watched in awe as it’s gigantic body flew over her head and crashed into the side of one of the homes.

There was a lot of noise and the lights were switched on.

 _Oh no,_ she thought as the beast stumbled to its feast, _they will be easier for it to catch. Please don’t come out._

Her small hands started pulling out the flint from the stone paths winding through her town. Armed with stones a little bigger than her palm, she braced herself. And with as mighty a call as she could make she threw them at the beast.

The akul that had just gotten back on its feet and was shaking off its disorientation suddenly noticed the larger prey that was within reach just behind the walls. But before it could act something heavy hit it on its left pointed ear. And as it turned to find the source of that pain, it felt another blow to it eye.

It roared in agony, agitated and angry beyond belief. Behind it and around it, many of the residents of the town began to wake. She could feel their fear in the dark.

The beast let out a roar, but then the side of the home it was standing against exploded, hitting it with a spray of debris.

Ahsoka saw Jabari re-aim his blaster-rifle while Adyan yelled something about “aiming properly”.

She had no time to understand it because the akul was suddenly standing on its haunches and roaring at the night sky.

And a little ways behind her, she heard the transformers that powered her little town and the electrical fence around it spark and buzz in agitation.

And then she knew what to do.

*****

“Ahsoka…?” Jabari whispered in horrified disbelief as he saw the little orange figure, one the town had fondly called their little troublemaker, standing before the beast. The ice that crept up his spine froze him on the spot as he watched the beast lunge at the young child.

Instinctively, he knew there was nothing he could do. Beside him Adyan screamed and the scream was echoed by the awoken residents who were looking out to witness this event.

But little Ahsoka, who was too smart and strong for her age but with enough mischief to mark her youth, merely rolled to the side. She then got up and ran off in a dead sprint with the beast following.

That shook Jabari from his stupor and with a roar of his own he gave chase, Adyan hot on his heels. _U’Mungu, please let us not be late_ , he prayed.

*****

Ahsoka ran, all the while paying attention to the heavy pounding of clawed paws behind her. She swerved left and felt the beast crash into Teacher Hasina’s home. Just around ten adult paces down the street and then she turned a sharp right. She sensed the beast jump off one of the walls to follow her turn and prevent its large body from crashing.

From this, she understood that the beast wouldn’t fall for the same trick twice.

But then she suddenly knew that she could do something, just like a babe knew that they could stand, just like an adult knew they could breathe, a knowledge inherent to her and her alone.

The transformer was just eight paces away and so she slowed down. The beast caught up with her and this time it stayed low to the ground as it lunged.

However, Ahsoka had already anticipated this. She suddenly swirled around on a dancer’s feet and stretched her hand palm-up at the beast. And like how Dance Teacher Nea had taught her, she raised her hand in a graceful arc up and over her head like a prayer to the Sky-father.

And the world responded.

The beast was suddenly lifted off its feet in a wide arc above the young girl and thrown into the transformer.

A flash of light, a surge of sparks, a haunting howl and the world exploded in bright light. Someone grabbed her and crashed to the ground, curling around her. Vaguely she recognised the yellow clay of Adyan’s skin, but all she could focus on was the yowl echoing through her montrals and the smell of charred flesh.

And when it was all over, Adyan uncurled from around her. He propped her up and looked at her from top to bottom before pulling her into a bone-crushing hug.

But all Ahsoka could focus on was the dead beast that she saw, it’s once magnificent orange fur was now a burnt black, silver eyes a dull gray and wicked sharp teeth bared for the world to see.

_I did this…_

_Yes, but those teeth are yours now..._

*****

She wished she were being punished. But the adults kept saying that she was not, that there was something she would understand soon.

Mama looked scared, her skin that had the colours of the sunset looked faded and she shook as she hugged her. Ahsoka, however, could not feel anything. It was like her body had turned into one of her clay dolls.

“Ahsoka, I…” Mama tried to say, lekku twitching as she spoke, “I’m sorry, I didn’t see…”

But there was something that she could sense in Mama, a fear, not of her, but for her…

And something far more…

It was like every time Mama thought about Papa after his death…

“I didn’t see…” her Mama repeated. Then Mama knelt in front of her, her larger body casting a shadow over Ahsoka and her blue eyes metting Ahsoka’s, “Ahsoka, listen to me carefully. I… I won’t be around after a while…”

Was Mama talking about the black blood in her? The one that would make her leave like Papa did?

“And I wanted to spend as much time as I could with you. But I was always worried about what would happen after I left.”

A tear rolled down Mama’s cheek and Ahsoka’s small hand reached up to wipe it away. Mama caught her hand and pressed it to her cheek.

“I always knew this day was coming and that this was why U’Mungu entrusted you to me.”

Mama then took a shuddering breath. “You are destined for great things. I saw it when I carried you in here”, she pressed both Ahsoka’s and her own hand to her stomach. “I knew you would need to be sent away and that was why you were given to me, so another heart wouldn’t be broken.”

“Mama, I don’t understand”, Ahsoka finally said.

_“It was an old beast…”_

_“But it was still a beast. And it was bested by this child. With a power the Jedi use, no less. They will come for her. You foresaw it!”_

_“I know, but how can I give up my child!”_

_“Aivane, you don’t have long. You always knew that. That was why I told you to cherish the time you have and let her go…”_

“I’m sorry my dear, ‘Soka”, her Mama hiccupped, “Just remember that no matter where you go, no matter what path you choose for yourself, you will always be my child.”

Mama then let go of her hand and went to stand by the circle of elders who stood around her in the middle of the sun-lit forum.

And that was when she felt it.

Steps that were sure, heavy and strong. She turned just as all the adults looked up and a strange man approached her. His head was very strange, shaped like a touca bird mid-flight. His eyes and mouth were covered and his skin was a lighter shade than hers and wrinkled like her bedcovers when she woke up. He wore clothes that looked heavy but she somehow knew were as soft as the spotted spider’s silk and light like the glass bubbles Teacher Hasina once gave her.

Elder Zahour smiled at her and approached the strange man alongside Mama. And from the proud smile on Mama’s face, she knew they were telling him the story of how she killed the akul and passed the warrior test (even though she hadn’t thought about the test at the time, only patrolmen Jabari and Adyan). So she made an effort to stand taller and look confident like a true warrior should.

After a few minutes, the man came and kneeled in front of her.

“It’s good to meet you, little ‘Soka”, he greeted and his voice was deep like thunder but as comforting as the campfire Teacher Hasina set up for the children of the town. He held out his hand to her and she saw four fingers on it.

She looked at Mama and at the smile she received she reached out slowly.

Once their hands met, a warmth like no other flooded her and she smiled.

*****

It was when they were on a ship (a ship!) and far from Shili that she noticed something.

First, she heard the soft song, like a heartbeat and a gentle croon that her mother sang for her to sleep.

Second, she saw all the colours that could possibly be in the starts, on Shili, in the ship and the vast expanse of space.

Third, she felt something that she could only call “forever” against her fingertips. She let go of the box of akul teeth and looked down at her hands in awe.

And finally, she felt that she was not supposed to be so small and that…

“Master Plo”, she stated hesitantly. And when he looked at her from his seat, she continued, “I think that the sky and you should be twenty years older.”

Master Plo Koon just looked at her for a good full minute before he burst out laughing.

“What? It’s true” Ahsoka huffed indignantly and that only made him laugh harder.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I saw Season 7 of The Clone Wars...
> 
> And I cried...
> 
> Moving on...
> 
> Wow, this was a monster to write. Hope I can update all my works along with my day job.
> 
> Now, on to some thoughts I had to pass the time...
> 
> I read somewhere that Ahsoka had that akul tooth headdress since she was four. That's crazy!  
> Togruta are said to have the same development span as humans, so a toddler cannot have killed an akul, a beast that is considered a terror to a PREDATORY race.
> 
> So, considering what Ahsoka was like in the beginning of The Clone Wars, I like to think something similar to this happened.


	2. Beads on a string

The spool of ironweave came undone in her hands. It was a strange metal, one that was supposedly weak but could be drawn into fibres that were strong and then further woven into armor that was stronger. It was even stronger than the spotted spider silk used on Shili, just not as nice looking.

Yet, this was the material Ahsoka was using to weave her headdress. Master Shaak Ti had offered her a few pearls and a spool of glistaweb, but she had refused and thanked her elder. Glistaweb was pretty but not as strong as ironweave. And the pearls were too expensive but very fragile. What if her headdress broke apart and she lost the teeth?

Master Shaak Ti had only smiled at her gently and left her to her own devices.

So, here she sat on her cot with a soft pelt placed before her. On it were the teeth of the akul she had slain over a year ago (sterilised and polished by her village elders), green-grey silka beads (that were far stronger than pearls) that matched the colour of the teeth, a few clasps and rings and the spool of ironweave thread she was currently fiddling with.

Now she was wondering how she would create her headdress. She did not want the hanging pendant that most of her people wore, they could get annoying. She also did not want heavy strings either. How was she to perform her duties if she couldn’t turn her head?

So she thought about it and thought about it.

And after a few minutes, the design came to her. So she immediately picked up her needle and threaded it and then a bead after it. Watching with careful eyes, she…

A sudden cry made her lose her focus. She started and pricked her finger with the needle.

“Ow”, she said softly and shook her hand.

Something was going on outside.

She looked around her empty crèche. This was a free time for all and most of the younglings were outside doing other things. So she decided to investigate.

She slowly made her way to the door and opened it. She then peered out and just caught sight of another fellow youngling, maybe a year or two older than her, get shoved to the ground. The ones who did the shoving ran away laughing.

There was an upturned dustpan and a fallen broom a little ways away. Oh, it seemed like the initiate was completing his chores. But he was shaking.

So Ahsoka quietly walked up to him, not wanting to spook him like the touca birds she had chased back on Shili. He looked up when her shadow fell over him and she saw that his eyes were the colour of the winter skies on Shili, a mix of grey and blue, his skin was a pale almost white and the tuft on his head, _hair_ Master Sinube called it, was a rich coppery hue, just like her mother’s skin.

Blinking, she crouched down before him.

“Are you OK?” she asked in Standard.

He blinked at her and his tuft, _hair_ Master Sinube’s voice chided in her mind, fell onto his face. Curious, she pushed it back on to the top of his head.

_Oh, dear Force…_

“Soft…” she muttered and began playing with it, forgetting that there was a boy to whom the hair was attached. The strands felt softer and finer than any silk she had ever seen (which wasn’t a lot, admittedly, given her young age).

She finally snapped out of the small trance she had fallen into when she remembered the boy attached to the hair because of the odd noise he made. She looked at him and saw that he had turned a different colour. How odd, now his skin was a shade of red close to hers. Especially the protrusions on the side of his head, _ears_ Master Sinube called them.

“Wha- What are you doing?” the boy asked with a frown. He had a strange way of speaking, not placing much emphasis on vowels, but she didn’t mind.

“Its soft”, Ahsoka replied and ruffled the strands again.

“Stop that!” he snapped and pushed her hand away. _Rude!_ He then used his own hands to flatten the tufts on his head until they somewhat fell in his eyes.

“Won’t they block your sight?” Ahsoka asked in confusion.

“Shut up!” he snapped again.

Ahsoka huffed and crossed her arms, but then had a thought out of the blue. “I’m hungry”, she whined.

“So, go get something to eat”, the boy replied as he stood up and dusted off his robes.

“Come with me”, Ahsoka commanded as she got to her feet as well.

“What? No! I still have to complete my chores.”

“Ok”, she replied and ran to the closet down the hallway. She quickly got her hands on another broom and dustpan and made her way back.

The boy blinked at her dumbly as she got to work.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

“I’m helping you so we can finish quickly so we can go eat”, she chirped back as she pushed the dust into a small mound to be easily loaded into the dustpan.

“What? You said you were hungry. Go eat!” the boy snapped again as he brushed the dust on the other side of the hallway a little too harshly.

Ahsoka thought that the boy snapped a lot. He was snappier than a hungry and snappy sarlacc. So she spoke to him patiently and softly like a hunter would speak to a spooked mokele-mbembe on Shili. “A jedi helps those in need.”

“Well I don’t need your help!”

“But I’m already helping you, so you need to repay me by sharing lunch with me!”

“Ok, fine!” the boy huffed and his lower lip jutted out. _A pout_ Master Sinube called it when Kriye had done the same.

Holding back a giggle, she swept her end quietly.

*****

“Hey!” the boy exclaimed indignantly. “You should eat your vegetables.”

“No, I don’t”, Ahsoka shot back in irritation, “I’m a canni-- car—“

She thought over the word carefully. Master Sinube had taught her it, but she still mixed it up a lot.

“A carnivore! I’m a carnivore!” she cheered when she got it right.

“Oh”, he replied quietly. He then looked at her plate and then his. He reached out quietly and took all the greens off her plate and placed them on his. He slipped a baked fillet of the scale fish onto her plate.

Ahsoka felt something warm and fuzzy in her chest.

“Help me finish my headdress”, she commanded.

“What? No!”

*****

“No, don’t hold the bead like that! You’ll prick yourself with the needle before you even thread it”, the boy said. He then took the silka bead, held it in between his fingers so that the holes were perpendicular to his pads. He then expertly ran the needle through it.

Ahsoka cooed in wonder and took the entire work from him before trying it herself.

“Hey, you’re right! It is easier this way!” she exclaimed.

“What’s an akul?” the boy asked.

“Mama once called it the apex predator of Shili”, she replied, “Apex means that it’s the strongest. It’s very hard to kill and can wipe out an entire city in a night.”

“And you killed it?” he sounded like he didn’t believe her. Well, she couldn’t disagree. She was very small, a runt.

“Well, I didn’t fight it. I just made sure that it ran into something that could kill it”, she replied.

“You fight the beasts?”

“Well, yeah. If you can kill an akul, you will be considered one of the best warriors on Shili. Not everyone wears an akul tooth, you know. We also have other sports. Like wrestling mokele-mbembe. They are giant water cows and their milk is very creamy and makes the best cheese. But they tend to lose their temper a lot. Any Togruta that can tame them can get wealthy because of the milk. So mokele wrestling is a popular sport.”

“Sounds uncivilised.”

“Hey! We don’t kill mokele. We just wrestle them and hold them down until they calm down! Besides, it helps build strength and character.”

The boy just shrugged.

“You look very skinny”, she said while poking his arms, “Maybe you should learn to wrestle mokele. It might even give you the strength you need to learn the lightsaber forms.”

“No, thank you!”

This of course caused her to burst into giggles.

Between the two of them, they completed the headdress within an hour.

“There”, the boy said as he fastened the clasp on the sides of her head. She had to try really hard not to giggle as it tickled her. Once he was done she looked in the small hand mirror she had.

The akul teeth framed the top of her face just below her Montral line exactly as it should. It was held in place by a chain of silka beads that forked in the valley of her montrals, curled around her back lek and ended in firm clasps under her side lekku. He even left enough spool tucked in to add beads and make the headdress bigger. “For when your head gets bigger than it already is”, he had said and got a punch to his arm in retaliation.

“This is amazing”, she said sincerely, “Thank you.”

“Of course”, he said with his arms crossed across his chest, “There is a lot you can learn from your elders, young one.”

She giggled at his puffed up chest. But then she stopped.

Because she saw something else.

The boy was no longer there. He had been replaced by a man far older than him, dressed in the tan and white robes of a Jedi and with hair covering half of his face. And there was another. Dressed in dark colours…

She knew these men.

She had always known them…

They were important to her…

More men, they had the same faces, but they were different…

_Brothers…_

But…

_She was small, but she was strong. Fast and agile, flitting between enemies, lightsaber in her hand and the Force around her…_

_“In my book, experience outranks everything…”_

_She was alone… but she knew what to do…_

_And then there was a strange woman, so tall and beautiful, and a man so full of anger…_

_And light, like that of a star.._

_But then there were people chasing her…_

_“Ahsoka… why did you leave?...”_

_Those beads were hers, but they were ripped from their place on her head. It hurt. Their words hurt._

_But…_

_The way they looked at her hurt the most…_

_“… I have to sort this out on my own…”_

_“… It was foretold that you would be here…”_

_“I won’t let anyone hurt you…”_

_A bird calling out, watching, guiding, asking her to make a choice, always…_

_“Do you know **what I’ve become**?”_

_“…you were the only one who understood. We should have listened…”_

_“…You really were the only one who believed me…”_

_“They are beautiful. You must be so proud of them.”_

_“ **I remember…** ”_

*****

The ceiling.

Why was she looking at the ceiling?

There was something soft under her. And there was a blanket covering her.

And there was someone moving around.

Huh? Why was she sleeping? When did she fall asleep?

“Oh”, someone said. The voice was soft and lilting, a lot like Mama’s. “You’re awake. How are you feeling young one?”

She looked up at the Twi’lek healer.

“M’tired”, she said softly, her voice did not come out right.

“What is the last thing you remember?”

She thought about it. What was the last thing she remembered? At first, everything was a blank. But then slowly, the memories came forward.

“I was making my headdress. There was a boy. And then there were two men…” she paused as she thought about the right words. “I think I knew them… I think they were important to me…”

The healer exchanged glances with Master Sinube. Ahsoka hadn’t noticed him before. She hoped he didn’t mind that she wasn’t paying attention to her surroundings.

As if hearing her thoughts, Master Sinube placed his clawed hand on her littler one. “Do not worry about that, my dear. Tell me, do you feel any pain?”

She thought about it. Nothing hurt. “No, but my head feels very stuffy…”

“I see”, the healer said, “I think you need some sleep. Meanwhile, you have a little visitor. You seemed to have scared the daylights out of him.”

The door to the healing hall opened and the boy she had met this morning stood there. He looked really, really worried so Ahsoka made sure to smile brightly at him.

“I’ll leave you to other capable hands now”, Master Sinube smiled. He and the healer left just as the boy shuffled inside.

*****

“Master Sinube”, Vokara Che began. There really was no way to breach this topic. “Do you think she is one of the gifted?”

The ‘gift’ here was foresight. However, Vokara always considered it more of a curse. For a chance to change the future, young and old alike were subjected to tremendous pain, sometimes more than their bodies could take. She remembered another youngling a few years ago with the same ‘gift’. She remembered how that little one had writhed in agony, getting random episodes of seizures and strokes, unable to eat, sleep or find peace until his body gave out and he passed to the Force.

“We can never know for sure”, Master Sinube replied as he hobbled beside her. His leisurely pace helped her gain some semblance of peace back.

“Is that why you left the Council and became the crèchemaster of the Clawmouse Clan?”

“Hmm”, he hummed as he gathered his words for her and she knew she would get complete honesty, maybe more than what Master Yoda got, “I was always planning on retiring from the Council. But one day, I had the strangest thought, to become a crèchemaster. And when that youngling was placed in my clan, it felt right.”

Vokara hands clenched into fists against her will.

“Take heed, young one”, Master Sinube said. And when she looked at him, she saw the gleam of razor sharp focus in his eyes. This was the Jedi Master who had unparalleled knowledge of the underworld across the Galaxy, a champion of justice of the highest calibre. When he made an observation, you paid attention. “Did you notice it? How different the Force is around her? Or how different she is in the Force?”

“Like broken fragments of clari-crystalline hastily glued together.”

*****

The boy hadn’t spoken to her, he hadn’t even looked at her. He had just sat quietly in his chair.

“Are you ok?” Ahsoka asked.

“I should be the one asking you that”, he mumbled.

At that Ahsoka looked down at her hands. She understood now. “It wasn’t anything you did, you know”, she said slowly, “I have always seen and heard things. This seemed a little more than usual.”

He didn’t reply, just shrunk further into his robes.

And it suddenly struck her that she did not know his name, nor had she shared hers in spite of spending an entire afternoon together.

“I’m Ahsoka Tano”, she blurted out and held out her hand.

He looked up at her and did nothing other than blink. Ahsoka felt stupid for holding out her hand.

But then, after a minute, his lips curled slowly into a smile.

“Well met, Ahsoka Tano”, he spoke with a huffy tone she now realised belonged was very much a part of him, “I’m Obi-Wan Kenobi.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't believe the sheer amount of research that went into this one chapter. I'm beat.
> 
> Also, I saw Return of the Jedi...
> 
> Luke's plan was...
> 
> Luke's plan was...
> 
> His plan was...
> 
> ...


	3. Friends we meet along the way

Ahsoka grimaced as the large, greasy wok was placed before her. She bit back a groan. Kitchen duty was the worst!

Beside her Obi-Wan looked properly dour with his hands dunked elbow-deep in soapy water. He grimaced as he pulled up a stringy, leafy leftover from within the water. Yes, even Jedi ‘forget’ to dispose of the leftovers on their plates before dumping them in the sink.

“At least we aren’t on garden duty in the Room of a Thousand Fountains like Masters Jinn, Windu and Yoda”, she said optimisitically. “Replanting all the flora in the garden can’t really be that fun.” And at Obi-Wan’s deadpan look, she added rather thoughtfully, “Or easy.”

“For the record, this is completely, without doubt, your fault”, he told her matter-of-factly.

“Well, you shouldn’t have gone along with me”, she retorted.

Though she would never, ever admit it to anyone, even to herself, she had realised that this really was her fault.

And it all started with a tooka.

*****

The trees felt odd here, the air may have smelled fresh, but it wasn’t clear. She looked up at the great big transparisteel domes overhead and frowned. It did not feel right.

Master Sinube and the Clawmouse Clan were visiting the Park, a sprawling, domed wilderness about fifty klicks from the Jedi temple on Coruscant. At first, she had been as excited as her crèchemates. However, that had worn out when she got here.

The sounds were odd, the sights were too bright and the plants whispered of untapped potential. She briefly wondered how something that was so full of life could ever feel so lifeless. Nevertheless, she followed after her clan master and mates as she noted down as many records as she could about the various flora onto the datapad.

It was when she was looking at the scale-leaf mushrooms from Felucia that she heard it. It was a small whimper that echoed through her montrals. And she followed it without hesitation, easily wandering away from her clan before they could notice.

She followed the small, pitiful cries to another bush with giant green leaves. And there, nestled in a bed of fronds was a small creature with a lean body, round head and pointed ears, a tooka. It was curled in on itself and making those awful whimpering-crying sounds. She could tell that it was in pain.

Her heart hurt.

She crouched down and pulled her backpack of her shoulders. That was when the tooka opened its beady eyes and looked at her cautiously. She dug around in her bag and pulled out a strip of jerky she had got for lunch. She then held it out for the tooka, careful to maintain a good distance and not move.

For what seemed to be several minutes, the tooka did not move. Then slowly, it uncurled itself and crept forward with surprising agility. It sniffed at the strip of dried meat in her hand, and when it felt confident enough, it snatched the strip out of her hand with the edge of its teeth.

Once it chewed and swallowed, it looked at her with its beady eyes and ears perked up.

Ahsoka got the distinct impression that it was asking for more.

But then she remembered that she wasn’t supposed to wander away from the clan.

But the tooka was looking at her.

But she could give it a bit more of her lunch and leave.

But it looked lonely and sad.

But she needed to get back to her clan.

But it looked so lonely and sad.

But…

But…

…

*****

“Initiate Tano, where were you?” Master Sinube asked kindly.

Ahsoka looked at him in embarrassment as the stripes on her lekku turned a light purple.

She said, “I’m sorry master, I was taking down notes about the bachani plants.”

She thought, _Please be quiet. Please be quiet. Please don’t eat all my lunch. Please be quiet._

The old master just let out a soft hum and went back to guiding the younglings back and Ahsoka let out a sigh of relief.

*****

Obi-Wan was returning from his lightsaber classes. His body ached, his mind ached and, after hearing Quinlan regaling his really stupid move that Master Yoda had laughed at to other entranced initiates, his soul ached too.

Right now, all he wanted to do was go to the mess, drink some tea, eat whatever he could get and go pass out on his bed.

All those plans flew straight out of the window when he saw Ahsoka sneaking away from her clan and running off in a way that said she did not want to be seen. She also had her backpack clutched to her chest.

Obi-Wan knew he shouldn’t, that he would only get in trouble if he did. He just wanted some snacks and sleep. So why in the name of the Jedi past and present was he running after her?

He ignored his friends as they called out to him as he took off after the younger Togruta.

 _How could someone so small cover so much ground in such a short time?_ he wondered. Ahsoka was fast, flitting between legs, never getting underfoot. He was pretty sure that if she got any taller and her legs got any longer, she could outpace anyone. He was already panting for breath even as he followed her as she ran across hallways, made sharp turns, ducked under small doorways and simply crossed the several courtyards littering the temple.

It was when he made another sharp turn to the left to follow her that he found his sleeve suddenly snagged. The momentum of his run caused him to falter, that in turn led to a stumble, which in turn led to him falling flat on his back.

Dazed, he looked up at the high ceiling of the temple’s outer porch.

And then a familiar stubby horned head came into view.

“What are you doing following me?” she asked accusingly.

The nerve of…

He suddenly shot straight up to his feet, not minding the sting in his joints and the protests of his muscles. At eight years old, he could not really tower over anyone. Except Ahsoka, because she was that small.

“What are you doing running off?” he asked back in the same accusing tone.

For a moment, she looked startled. But then her face settled into a frown of somewhat-familiar bantha-headed stubbornness and he immediately knew that he had to get ready to fight a war like no one had ever fought before.

Then the backpack she had clutched to her chest squirmed.

He lost his focus.

The flap of the pack flew open and he gaped.

A tooka with a white coat and grey stripes blinked its beady eyes at him. And then it snarled, showing him its pointy, definitely sharp fangs.

He looked up at Ahsoka and she looked back at him.

“Help me hide him”, she commanded.

“What? No!”

*****

Obi-Wan sighed when he made to the courtyard in the Room of a Thousand Fountains without being noticed. He then made his way to the bush where he had asked the tooka to hide. The tooka popped his head out of the bush when he noticed Obi-Wan coming.

With another sigh, the boy pulled out a fillet of bird meat out of his robes. The tooka twitched his ears before pouncing on his arm to grab the jerky and start nibbling on it. It had been two rotations already, two rotations through which none of the Jedi, with all their extrasensory perception, apparently noticed the young stowaway hidden in their home.

Obi-Wan then felt a familiar tingle in his mind. He turned around to greet his Togruta friend and paused. “No”, he said before Ahsoka could even open her mouth, glaring at the other tooka, one that was a soft purple with no stripes or spots on its coat, in her arms.

“But Tooki needs a friend”, she whined.

“Tooki?”

“Yeah, his name is Tooki”, she stated as she pointed at the white and grey tooka.

“Tooki, the tooka?” he said in a straight deadpan.

“Hey, it’s definitely his name”, she said.

“Right”, he drawled, “Also, I’m not helping you with another tooka.” And his words were final.

Until she looked at him with those big blue eyes.

*****

Master Yoda was meditating in the courtyard with his former padawan.

Or at least attempting to.

“Pardon me, my master. But there seems to be…” Young Dooku began.

“To stay quiet, you have forgotten, young one”, the old master replied.

“Yes, well, I think this is important…”

“The only important thing, the Force is.”

“I agree, Master. However, you really…”

“Meditate, young one. Pass to the Force, your worries.”

“I will. As soon as you notice…”

Master Yoda felt a sudden sharp pain in his left ear and an additional weight in his lap. He startled out of his meditation with a yelp and looked down at the beady eyes of the creatures that had sought fit to pounce on him.

“… the tookas about to pounce on you”, Dooku finished blandly.

There were five of them and they were all looking at him as if expecting something from him. Then they all collectively looked down at the area of his robe where he had hid a bag of candied meat he had asked (ordered) the cooks to prepare for him.

“Go away, you will”, he said firmly, “Mine, this is.”

The tookas looked at him for a full minute.

And then Master Yoda, Grandmaster of the Jedi Order, with nearly a millennium of experience in all things Force-related and life-related, was suddenly swarmed by a clowder of brave and hungry tookas.

Experience had taught Dooku that at this point he did not want to be caught in the crossfire of a brawl between the Grandmaster of the Jedi Order and some of the fiercest creatures in Coruscant. So he followed his self-preservation instinct, got to his feet, dusted off his robes and swiftly made his exit.

*****

It had been a while since he had been in the Council room, especially feeling like a padawan being chastened. Standing on his right, Mace Windu struggled to set his eyes forward and not to move. A little further to his right lay the reason Knight Windu just couldn’t seem to stop fidgeting.

And that reason was five tookas imprisoned in a plush basket with a soft silk net hindering their escape.

And they were all glaring and snarling at the Grandmaster.

And next to the Grandmaster was Master Dooku, calmly sipping tea where he sat.

It was too bizarre and strangely endearing and he had to hide a smile behind his hand. He could almost imagine Windu thinking…

“Be more dignified, Jinn”, Windu whisper-yelled at him without turning to face him.

Ah, exactly that!

“Troublesome, you are”, Master Yoda started, “To the temple, troublesome creatures, you have brought.”

Oh.

Now, that’s not fair.

They just snuck a Convor inside a decade ago and they are being held responsible for every creature brought here?

“While I understand your reason for your suspicions, Master”, Windu began, “I can assure you the days of stowing away creatures are long behind me.”

“As they are behind me as well, Master”, Jinn continued, “We have enough and more younglings who are willing to risk sneaking a cute creature inside.”

“If I may be as bold as to interrupt”, Master Dooku began, “I have a question. How did you not sense the tookas in the Room of a Thousand Fountains?”

“Part of the natural world, they are”, Master Yoda, “Part of the natural world, yes. To the Room of a Thousand Fountains, they should not have been brought.”

“Of course”, Master Dooku replied blandly and went back to sipping his tea.

“Hmm”, Master Yoda almost looked disappointed.

Also, was this about the scuffle in the Alderaan sector originating from that one mission that could not be traced to either of them but caused a massive headache for the High Council?

The glare that Master Yoda shot them kind of confirmed that it was payback for all the nuisance their bickering had caused.

And then Master Dooku cleared his throat. “We could just keep an eye on the Room of a Thousand Fountains for any youngling, padawan, knight or master who seem to be losing their minds when they don’t find their little friends”, the elegantly aging Master stated pointedly.

Master Yoda opened his mouth. However, whatever he had to say, no one heard it, because the door to the room slammed open. How a sliding automatic door controlled by precision hydraulics could ever slam open was beyond Qui-Gon.

And in charged Master Erie with a strange gleam in her eyes. A gaggle of younglings, peeked out from behind the door. Qui-Gon could not help but wave at them and earned an elbow to his ribs for the effort. He glared at Windu, who was pointedly not looking at him.

“What’s this I hear about you stealing the toy basket from my crèche, Master Yoda?” the Mirialan master said as she came to a stop before the Grandmaster with her hands on her hips.

Behind her, the younglings slowly stepped inside, emboldened by their crèchemaster’s rampage against the Grandmaster.

Master Dooku sipped his tea. _Just how much tea could his little cup hold?_ Qui-Gon absently wondered.

Master Yoda’s ears drooped a bit. “Well”, he said, eyeing the basket of tookas still glaring at him.

Master Erie’s eyes fell on the basket and she let out an indignant gasp. “That’s unhygienic. How could you do that with an item used for children?” she glared at the Grandmaster. “I don’t care what business you have with those tookas, but make sure that the basket is put through the laundry before you send it back to the crèche.”

“Well”, Master Yoda tried to say.

“Washed and sanitised!” Master Erie emphasised.

Unbeknowst to the two adults that were conversing (arguing) and the three other adults that were watching (with amusement), one of the brave younglings approached the basket of tookas. She really wanted to touch one of those soft, cuddly critters.

It was an event of nature that needed witnessing but sadly lacked any.

The tookas were suddenly met with the one thing they truly feared – the icky, sticky fingers of a baby sentient that could squish them, smush them and pull their fur out. And suddenly, the entire clowder was worked up to a frenzy.

The argument between the two adults was suddenly interrupted by snarling and hissing and caterwauling and yowling and squealing and agonised mewling. All adults in the room looked at the basket just in time to see the tookas scratch up the nets in a frenzy and break free of the basket before scampering out of the room through the open door and scattering across the temple in different directions.

“Perhaps we should round them up before they wreak havoc in the temple”, Master Dooku said whilst still sipping his tea.

*****

Obi-Wan was a little concerned.

Actually, he was in a mad panic.

He couldn’t find any of the tookas anywhere.

Where could they have gone? Did they run off by themselves? Did someone else in the temple find them? Did they get crushed under something heavy when they were playing around? Or worse, did they find Master Yoda?

Oh, no. If Master Yoda found them, then they would be expelled and they would have no place to go to and they would end up in some backwater planet, running from slave traders and making moonshine in the refresher!

“Obi, Obi, snap out of it!” he heard Ahsoka yell at him at the same time he felt her hands on his shoulders shake him like a salt shaker.

For someone so small, she sure was very strong.

“Calm down, there’s no need to panic”, she said in what might have been a calm voice if he hadn't heard it crack and tremble with her own held back panic. “It alright. No one noticed them the past twelve rotations, so no one will probably notice them now. Calm down, I’m sure they are here somewhere.”

“How can you…?”

“Calm down!” she said more firmly. “I can find them, but I need to concentrate. And you flailing around isn’t helping me. Now, take a deep breath.”

He listened to her and pulled in a deep breath. He felt his lungs expand, so he kept it in for a few seconds before letting it out. And most of his anxiety with it.

“Now, stay quiet”, she commanded.

Ahsoka then closed her eyes and stood very, very still. He remembered that Togruta hearing could pick up sounds beyond the range of most humanoids. So, she must be trying to find the tookas.

“I know where they are”, she said and turned to him excitedly. “One is in the hallway leading to the Council room, one is in the watering system ducts up by the meditation yard, one is on the roof, one is up on that blue wood tree and one is behind us.”

“Very good, little initiate”, a stern voice suddenly said.

Both Obi-Wan and his dear friend, who he was considering disowning, nearly jumped out of their skins. They both turned around slowly, resigning themselves to their fate.

And there stood Master Dooku, former padawan of Master Yoda, looking at them with disapproval clear in his eyes. Behind him stood a Jedi Knight with long hair, half of which was pulled up in a tail. In his arms, he held one of the tookas.

“Kooki”, Ahsoka squealed in delight.

Obi-Wan was positively mortified. Not only did she not follow the proper decorum when faced with a revered Master of the Order, but she also named the tooka a variation of the name Tooki? He really was going to disown her now.

Master Dooku raised an eyebrow at her reaction while the knight standing behind him shook with barely restrained laughter.

“I guess this little one belongs to you, young ones”, the knight said and placed the cream coated and yellow spotted tooka in Obi-Wan’s arms. To the young boys further mortification, the tooka purred and cuddled closer to him, drawing out coos from both the knight and Ahsoka. Master Dooku looked distinctly unimpressed.

“You’d best go find the other ones now”, the Master stated as he walked away.

*****

361

362

363

She was a girl on a mission, dressed to the nines and clanging her way up the stairs with her skirts held up in both hands and in shoes that were both beautiful and dreadful.

387

388

389

She was definitely not jealous of the thinner more practical dress that her governess was wearing as the both of them clobbered up the stairs, very much out of breath.

No, she was a princess on a mission and she was not going to stop.

425

426

427

Why in kriffing hell did the Jedi temple have so many steps?

“Your highness, please slow down”, her governess called behind her.

But she wouldn’t stop, she was a young woman on a mission. And she would see it through to the very bitter end!

441

442

443

*****

The knight was kind and bright, but also very dull. Ahsoka wasn’t sure how to feel about him.

But he knelt down before her while Obi was having a meltdown and spoke, “Now, young one. What is your name?”

“Ahsoka”, she replied softly.

“Well met, Ahsoka”, her replied, “I’m Qui-Gon Jinn. Why don’t you find the tooka in the tree while I get the one in the watering ducts? Master Yoda is making his way here, so he’ll be able to fetch the one in the corridor. And Knight Mace Windu is up on the roof at the moment.”

“Ok”, Ahsoka chirped as she made her way after little Ooki. She would let Frooki in Knight Jinn’s much more capable hands. After all, Obi seemed frozen and unlikely to move anytime soon.

She quickly ran up to the tree and held out her arms. “Ooki! Come down, girl!” she yelled up at the tooka. The black tooka with grey spots took one look at her and jumped into her arms. She then cuddled up to the little sentient, purring when the little one giggled.

*****

The tooka was sitting on a spire on the roof. The poor thing looked terribly frightened and stuck. Well, no matter, it was the duty of the Jedi to protect all life, even a fluffy little stray tooka that a youngling snuck into the temple. Even if he has to scale the treacherous roof full of old slipping tiles, slopes too smooth to provide any traction and handholds too small for his hands.

Mind made up, Mace slowly, but expertly made his way up the roof top with a grace belying his size. And when he reached the pointed top of the roof, he made sure to keep his distance lest he spook the poor frightened creature.

“Hey, now”, he cooed softly. Somewhere, he was pretty sure that Jinn was laughing at him. “Come here, little one. I’m going to get you down now.”

The fluffy creature looked at him with its beady eyes. Its purple coloured coat fluttered slightly in the wind. And its tail swung lazily behind it.

“I won’t hurt you”, he said as he wobbled about, trying to keep his balance, “I will get you down now.”

The tooka blinked its beady eyes at him, opened its mouth in a wide yawn and then jumped off the roof.

Mace watched in morbid fascination as the little feline crawled across the smooth roof, jumped between overhangs and spires and gracefully made its way below.

While he was stuck on the roof.

*****

Qui-Gon pondered over the puzzle presented to him with his hand cupping his chin.

The tooka with the orange coat and black stripes was hidden in a small den formed between large boulders next to one of the watering tunnels. He tried to reach out for the little creature and got scratched in the hand for all his trouble. He lamented over the fact that the tooka did not climb into the tunnel where he actually fit. And then he realised that the tooka did not climb there **because** he fit there.

Oh, well.

Only one thing left to do.

It was considered a misuse of the Force, but desperate times and all that.

Waving his hand and levitated the boulders away from the den and toward the pipe.

The tooka startled and looked around when he saw that his shelter had disappeared. He then turned to the sentient responsible and let out a snarl.

“It’s alright, little one”, Qui-Gon cooed, “I’ll just be taking you back to your yournglings.”

The tooka hissed and pounced on his face.

*****

747

748

749

750

And finally she was on the top.

The Jedi temple looked imposing from here as it was from down by the lane.

Beside her, her governess practically crawled on the stone.

How undignified! As bastions of the Galactic Republic, she, and by extension her mentors, should show the utmost poise and grace at all times, even if they had to climb 750 steps in ridiculous clothes and shoes.

“Ah, welcome to the temple, Your Highness”, a voice greeted her.

She turned to see an old Cosian Jedi hobble his way to her. And she was instantly impressed

 _It is an honour to be greeted by an Old Master of the Jedi Order_ , she thought, _even if they are hilariously old._

“Greetings, Master Jedi”, she curtsied as one of her station should. She beamed in approval as her governess quickly composed herself. “I am Princess Breha Organa of Alderaan. And I have come to you with a humble request.”

The old master hummed. “It’s a pleasure, Your Highness. I am Tera Sinube”, the master greeted back, “If you would please come with me, we shall discuss your business on the way inside. I sense it’s of great urgency. Would you care for a cup of tea?”

“Yes, please, Master Jedi”, Breha answered as she shuffled as fast as she could behind him, her governess dutifully following her. How could a hobbling, old gentleman cover so much ground so quickly?

“So, what brings you to us, Your Highness?”

At this, Breha took a deep breath. “I have come searching for the one I lost. He is my love and my responsibility. However, I am ashamed to admit that I was reckless and now I cannot find him no matter how much I look”, she said, hoping the old master wouldn’t judge her.

“Hmm”, Master Sinube hummed, “Fear not, my dear. You shall be reunited with your beloved shortly.”

“But I never told you who he is”, Breha blurted out. She then remembered that she had forgone protocol and blushed in embarrassment. Sometimes, she hated the rules of conversation she had to follow. They were really ridiculous and made her sound wooden and stilted.

“Ah, but Your Highness, a Jedi has no need for such descriptions”, the old master chuckled, “Whatever we need to know, the Force shall reveal to us.”

She looked at him skeptically but then was distracted by another old master hobbling further ahead of them. And if the green colouration and pointed ears were any indication, that was probably Master Yoda.

She watched in awe as the Master extended out his hand. A minute later, she saw a small animal levitate toward him. It looked like…

“Shall we?” Master Sinube asked.

“I beg your pardon, Master?” she asked back.

“It’s almost time for the water fountains in the Room of a Thousand Fountains”, he replied, “It’s a spectacle few outside the Order can see. Would you like to?”

“I’d be honoured, Master.”

*****

The Room of a Thousand Fountains was as beautiful as she expected. It may not have been as expansive as the Park, but it still contained an impressive amount of flora in various steppes along with several crystalline ponds connected by canals, mystical falls, open courtyards and stone walkways. Breha was hard-pressed to think of any other creation that could match this one room, or rather enclave would be a better description.

Then she spotted Master Yoda hobbling his way to a courtyard with a tooka under his arm. He seemed to be heading toward two children there, a Human and a Togruta, each with a tooka in their hands. Was this a tooka meeting?

Then she watched in awe as a grown Human man stumbled, rolled and fell into the courtyard with a tooka attached firmly to his face. She also saw another tooka prance and hop about before making its way toward the Togruta child and rubbing its head against her leg.

What a strange but endearing ritual… She really couldn’t look away at this point.

Master Yoda seemed to be saying something to the children and the man who was still lying on the floor with a tooka on his face. Was he instructing them on how to take care of a tooka? She felt a pang in her heart when she thought about that.

Suddenly, there was a rumbling and the ground shook. Behind her, her governess yelled and held onto her.

Before she could even comprehend what is going on, Breha saw the boulders covering a pipe burst apart and water rush out in flash flood, reaching the courtyard where the men and children stood.

“Ah, so that’s why the fountains hadn’t started yet”, Master Sinube said beside her.

 _Why aren’t you worried about them?_ Breha thought numbly as she watched all four sentients and five tookas suddenly washed away by the flood.

Before she could even come to terms with what she was witnessing, the large window that overlooked the courtyard shattered and in swung a Jedi with a blazing purple lightsaber. He then fell in water and was washed away as well.

 _What’s happening here?_ Breha thought dumbly as she saw the five tookas that by some miracle escaped the flood and were now floating in a basket in the much calmer waters of the canal two feet in front of her. _How?_ They didn’t reply, of course. They just blinked up at her with beady eyes.

One of the tookas jumped out of the basket and into her arms. It was white with grey stripes.

She instinctively held him to her chest.

She then looked blankly at pile of Jedi, masters and children alike, in the courtyard and the beady eyes that were blinking up at her from the basket.

“My, what a spectacle”, Master Sinube chuckled beside her as he pulled the basket out of the water.

“Sure, a spectacle…” Breha echoed dumbly.

*****

 _I’m dead,_ Obi-Wan decided, _I’m dead and one with the Force and I’m being haunted by the spirits of Masters Yoda, Windu and Jinn who somehow passed away on a great battlefield far, far away._ He saw the Togruta girl he had known for two years roll to her feet with a cheer. _And Ahsoka doesn’t exist. She’s just a figment of my overactive imagination. Though I’m not sure how I have an imagination after I became one with the Force._

“Dead, you are not, initiate”, Master Yoda grumbled as he slowly got to his feet, his sopping wet robes pooling around his feet.

 _Oh, that is even worse,_ thought the little Kenobi.

He slowly got to his feet along with Masters Windu and Jinn.

“What happened?” Windu asked, his voice low and dangerous and his robes sticking to his skin.

“Oh, I think that was my fault”, Jinn replied as he wrung his long hair, “I may have blocked the main watering tunnel in my haste to get to the tooka.”

Master Windu took in a deep breath, let it out and slapped Master Jinn upside the head.

“Ow!” Master Jinn said as he rubbed his head.

Obi-Wan slowly backed away from the two men until he was standing behind Ahsoka, who didn’t mind being drenched, and Master Yoda, who was busy squeezing the water out of the tails of his robe. Both were much smaller than him but he decided that the sheer enormity of their presences in the Force would be sufficient protection for him.

“If you are quite done with your tomfoolery, we have a guest”, a stern voice rang out.

All of them startled and snapped toward the direction from where Master Dooku's voice came.

There was a human girl there, a little older than Obi-Wan. And she held Tooki in her arms while she gaped at them.

Master Sinube, who had been standing next to her, chuckled. “Well, you certainly had quite an adventure.”

“Tooki!” Ahsoka squealed as she clambered up the slope to reach the girl and the tooka.

Something in Obi-Wan snapped. He didn’t care about decorum anymore when he yelled out, “Stop calling him that ridiculous name—“

“You know his name”, the girl interrupted with a cracking voice and misty eyes, “The Force really did reveal what you needed to find him.”

“Eh?”

*****

“Thank you for taking care of him”, Princess Breha said with a very low bow, “I let my pride get in the way and delayed contacting you like His Majesty advised. If Her Majesty hadn’t contacted you, I would have truly lost Tooki.”

Obi-Wan didn’t know how to react to such sincerity, but Ahsoka just plowed ahead as usual. “You are a good person, Your Highness. You would have found him again just because of how much you care. We wouldn’t have even needed to interfere.” She said it with such conviction that the princess’s eyes misted over.

At that, Master Sinube placed his hands on both the younglings shoulders. “Yes, initiate Tano is right, Your Highness. The Force works in mysterious ways. As long as you have faith in what is right, things will find a way to work themselves out.” He then turned to his charge and her friend. “Now, then there is the matter of your punishment for breaking temple rules. Since you were only responsible for bringing the tookas, I think kitchen duty should suffice.”

“But Master, the garden…” Master Windu began but was cut off by a huff from the older Jedi.

“The garden and the pipes were Knight Jinn’s fault with a little encouragement from Master Yoda, from what I can tell. That fiasco belongs to them. The window was yours”, the Cosian Jedi replied, “It’s only fair to give credit where credit is due, isn’t it?”

“Grandmaster, I am…” Master Yoda began.

“All the more reason for you to set an example for the young ones so they don’t get into unwanted mischief”, he looked at Obi-Wan and Ahsoka with a strange gleam in his eyes, “No matter how well-intentioned.”

At that, the Grandmaster’s ears drooped and he let out a quiet groan.

“Now since that is settled, I think there is one other business to take care of.”

*****

The building looked bland, yet there was a light and energy to it that was blinding.

“Come along now”, Master Sinube huffed as he hobbled up the stairs at the entrance. Ahsoka and Obi-Wan, each with two tookas in hand, followed quietly.

There were so many people inside the building, bustling about to make sure everything was in order. The walls and floors looked so old and worn that there was a quiet comfort that could be derived from them.

“Welcome Master Sinube”, an old Zabrak woman approached them, “How can I help you?”

The master gestured at the children behind them.

Once the woman took a look at them and the animals in their arms, her eyes softened. “I see you found a few friends”, she said softly as she knelt before them, “Don’t worry, we’ll take good care of them and ensure they are in good hands. Will you follow me?”

At their somber nods, she turned around and gestured for them to follow her.

She took them through a set of sliding transparisteel doors to a lush garden littered with several types of toys and play sets. She then pushed past the thick boundary of transparent composite veil strips to the other side.

“You can let them go now”, she said kindly.

The two children looked at each other and slowly, reluctantly let the tookas down. The little cats looked around in awe, sniffed around and tentatively took their first steps inside.

Ookie was the first to move further than them, brave little feline that she was, always exploring, always moving forward. Her black coat with grey spot glistened in the light of the sun filtering in through the transparisteel roof.

Kooki, Frooki and Nooki followed with tremendous care, emboldened by the curiosity of their friend.

Soon, all tookas were either nestled in various corners of the garden, exploring some posts and enclosures or play-fighting with other mates.

“Master Sinube”, Ahsoka began softly, as if she were scared to speak, “We are Jedi, aren’t we? We are able to care for all creatures. Why can’t we have them in the temple?”

The old master and the Zabrak woman looked at them with sad smiles. The two children suddenly had the feeling that they had had this conversation with several children before and that this wouldn’t be the last time.

“Do you know why we are asked to not have any attachments?” he asked.

Both thought about it for a bit. One of the tenets was to not have any attachment but no one had ever explained why.

“Jedi are peacekeepers”, he said, “We do everything we can to ensure conflicts are settled, that no harm comes to innocents and that all creatures are viewed equally. Now how can we do that if we favour one being over all else?”

He placed his hands on their shoulders and gently pointed them in the direction of the cats in the nursery.

“Look at them, look at how many of them are there”, he said, “Your compassion saved four of them, but there are so many more that need to be saved. How can you do that when your focus is only on the four of them?”

The Zabrak woman kneeled before them. “That is why it is important that you focus on your studies and your work. Then you can save them and entrust them to us as we know what to do to ensure they are safe and comfortable”, she said gently, “It’s all part of a greater chain. Each of us does our part and trusts others to do theirs. And when they don’t, you are within your rights to question them just as you are within your obligations to answer similar questions pointed at you.”

Master Sinube added, “People always come and go in our lives. Sometimes, your journeys may not follow the same path. And to force them from theirs and onto yours is simply unfair to both of you”, he said gently, “It is just as important to say ‘goodbye’ as it is to say ‘hello’.”

Master Sinube sighed softly when he heard a few quiet sniffles and pulled both children closer to him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... that happened...
> 
> Even in a galaxy far, far away, cats will always be adorable assholes.
> 
> Good teachers are an integral part of a child's formative years...
> 
> Speaking of Dooku and his tea, I also love tea. It's not just the Brits, but the Indians too. I drank 5 Earl Greys, 7 Assams, 2 Masalas and 1 Darjeeling to finish this. I also love coffee, so I also had 3 cups of Indian Summer filter.
> 
> Forgive me for any typos. This was exhausting


	4. Over the hills and far away

Ahsoka was seven years old and though she understood she was too young to comprehend a lot of things she knew this much:

  1. The Force kept trying to tell them all something. If it were a person, it would be jumping up and down, pointing its finger and saying, “Look here, look here, look here, you morons!” But the Force was not a person and most did not even realise that it was trying to say something. At least she knew it was trying to say something but it was in a language she did not understand. Maybe she needs to start learning more languages so she could understand?
  2. It is impossible for Obi to ever get angry. He yelled, he screamed, he punched, he kicked, he scoffed, he huffed, he sulked, he pouted and he didn’t speak to you for days until you bribed him with sweet bread. But that was because he was worried or frustrated or irritated. He was never angry and something in her told her that he never would be.
  3. Anyone who thought Obi could not control his emotions was a hutt-spawn that needed to get their brains checked a couple of hundred times to see if any cells were out of place or straight up dead. Obi had impeccable control over his emotions, he was the closest thing to a saint. She should know. It took her over twelve tries to get any proper reaction out of him.
  4. Anyone who decided to hurt Obi because of the above two reasons needs to be taught a lesson, through pain if necessary.



That was why she was glaring at the three much older boys standing before her with both fangs and claws bared.

One of them, a human with really pale hair, was glaring back at her while clutching tight the hand that she had bitten a minute ago. The other boys seemed to get more nervous by the minute.

Behind her, Obi was freaking out again. She wished he could be quieter about it. If she wanted to win this for his honor, then she shouldn’t be the one to look away first.

“Ahsoka”, he whispered to her.

But she wouldn’t turn. She wouldn’t be distracted.

She wouldn’t…

The boy suddenly turned to Obi. “What? Can’t control your pet?” he sneered.

She felt Obi go very, very still behind her. Blinking now that the staring contest stopped, she turned to Obi in confusion. His face had no expression. It was completely blank.

She held her breath and watched silently as he stepped past her toward the boy. In a fraction of a second, he had pulled his fist back and slugged him in the face.

Everyone else ended up gaping at him, but then one of them moved to react. However, Ahsoka was faster.

She vaulted over Obi and dropped kicked the boy in the stomach. Even as he crumpled while clutching it, she pounced on the third one with a snarl. And before he could even react, she was on his back, legs wound tight around his torso, one arm around his neck and the other on the back of his head in a really tight chokehold.

From her perch, she saw some sort of awareness come back to Obi. He looked at the two downed boys groaning in pain and at the one she was still choking.

“Ahsoka…”

Whatever he wanted to say went unsaid because another voice interrupted him, a deep, comforting and very familiar voice.

“What is going on here?” it asked.

Ahsoka immediately let go of the boy and jumped off his back. “Master Plo!” she greeted cheerily as she bounced up to the Kel Dor master who appeared before them. Obi was as stiff as a carbonite decoration and was staring blankly at Master Plo.

“Hello, Little ‘Soka. That is quite the chokehold you learnt”, he said amiably as he knelt down before her. The other boys slowly got to their feet, the one she had held in a chokehold was rubbing his throat, “But why would you use it on someone now?”

“Oh, those boys are big, dumb meanies. They called Obi names, like Oafy, and called me a pet. They also don’t let Obi ever complete his chores on time”, Ahsoka replied.

“I see”, the master replied as he looked up at the boys who were slowly trying to sneak away. Obi was still frozen stiff. “However, I cannot condone the use of violence. That is not how Jedi resolve their problems, Little ‘Soka. Hence, you and Little Obi will be assigned kitchen duty for three days.”

One of the boys was stupid enough to smirk smugly.

“And since bullying is what started this in the first place, I cannot in good conscience let it go”, Master Plo said as he looked at the boys. Whatever delight they had on their faces was wiped out in an instant under the master’s subtle glare. “It isn’t the Jedi way to deliberately antagonise and hurt others. Hence, you three will be handling refresher duty for both the east and south wings for the next two weeks. I will let the maintenance crew know.”

With that light message delivered, he stood up and looked down at all of them kindly. “Now then, don’t you have classwork, chores and your respective punishments to complete?”

“Of course, Master Plo. Bye-bye”, she chirped and pulled a still frozen Obi behind her by the sleeve of his robes.

As far as punishments went, they got off lightly. The east and south wings were dorms for the initiates and padawans. She did not envy those boys even a little.

*****

She was done with cleaning all the dishes and found herself with a lot of free time. Of course, Obi had sulked off with a huff and most of her crèchemates just wanted to nap or just play in the yard. She didn’t feel like doing any of those.

She just felt like leaving.

The sentinels weren’t looking. Or rather they were, but for some reason, there was one particular line of sight they seemed to just ignore.

So she sprinted as fast as she could until she was out of their line of sight and near the ledge of the temple compound wall.

A new skylane had been marked and created. Now it had to be lined with the appropriate walkways. This not only meant that the temple steps were cut to a tenth of the original number, but also that there were a lot of heavy machinery, equipment and materials lying just outside the compound wall. And that meant more footholds than previously available.

She took advantage of this to leap over the compound wall with the help of the Force. Once she was over the wall, she managed to land with a loud thunk onto the roof of a mini-crane. Luckily for her, the sound was muffled by the sound of heavy traffic. And since she had waited for noon to time this getaway, the workers were out for their lunch.

So she quickly jumped off the crane and landed on the platform the workers used to create the walkways. From there, it was just a matter of climbing down the ladders and swinging across the scaffolding until she reached the older walkway that had run a little lower behind the temple.

Once she landed on it in a crouch, she stood up straight and dusted her knees as if she had just clumsily fallen over. No one seemed to pay her any heed as they walked around her. This allowed her to slip into the crowd with ease.

*****

There was a girl walking by herself in the alley where it wasn’t safe for her.

Ahsoka completely ignored the double standard of that thought, choosing instead to observe the girl.

She looked like a human but she had blue-purple hued skin, a Pantoran. Her hair was a shade of indigo that gleamed in the light of the afternoon sun. She was wearing a hooded jacket, a trailing skirt and lots of golden pins in her hair. She was a little bit taller than Ahsoka herself, maybe a little older too. And she seemed to be looking for something.

She didn’t seem to be paying attention to anything around her because she suddenly tripped on a can. But Ahsoka caught the back of her coat before she could hit the pavement.

Once the girl was on her feet, she turned to look at who caught her and then looked down at the stubby horned head that reached her chest.

“Hello”, she said uncertainly.

“Hi, I’m Ahsoka Tano”, Ahsoka chirped happily, “What’s your name?” Briefly, she had the hilarious image of an older Obi scolding her for speaking to strangers and telling them her name. But she dismissed it because the Force didn’t warn her about this girl.

“Um…” the girl hesitated, probably thinking exactly what older imaginary Obi had told Ahsoka. Which was completely ridiculous, because Ahsoka was a kid and no longer a stranger since she introduced herself.

“I’m Amahle”, she said softly, hesitantly.

“Ok. What are you doing here?”

Amahle eyed her surroundings carefully. “I’m looking for Mpho”, she replied, “He’s a massiff. My family said that he ran off and that they have filed a complaint with the Coruscant Security Force.” Then she looked frantically at Ahsoka, “But Coruscant is so big, he could be anywhere, and the Police are always so busy, and…”

“That’s ok”, Ahsoka cooed at Amahle and held her hand when she started panicking, “I’ll help you find him or her.”

“Him”, the Pantoran confirmed, “And how will you do that.”

“Oh, I’m a Jedi initiate”, Ahsoka thunked her chest proudly, “The Force will help me.” She completely ignored the skeptical look that Amahle was throwing at her. “Let’s go!”

“Wait! Do you even know where you are going?”

“Nope!”

*****

“This was his collar”, Amahle said as she held out a jacket and leash made of soft fabric that was coloured a soft yellow, “Are you sure this can help?”

“Of course”, the young Togruta replied and took the equipment from her, “We can use the Force to see the memories when touching things owned by different beings. It’s called re—ret—“ She thought about the word she learned a few months ago carefully. “It’s called retrocognition.”

“Oh, ok.”

Truth be told, Ahsoka did not sense any memories from the jacket or leash. But she did sense something odd. And as always she decided to follow it.

*****

Ahsoka stopped when she reached the surface walkway. She was standing very still, staring over the horizon as if she had never seen it before. Amahle looked at her questioningly, but Ahsoka didn’t reply, couldn’t reply.

She had heard a lot about this planet from her masters and other initiates in the temple. They had spoken of how this planet had been as lush and as bright as any other inhabitable multi-biome planet, with spiralling mountains, cresting valleys, unending oceans and life like no other. But over several millennia, after acting as a seat of power for so long, this is what people had turned it into, a caricature of progress with a glittery surface.

She climbed onto the railing bordering one of the many bridges. And as she stood there overlooking the façade of the planet with its many skylanes and dropways and walkways and skyscrapers and floating billboards and speeders zooming past and ships launching into the distant sky, all she saw was change.

Yes, the old life on this planet was lost. Yes, it had been replaced. Yes, only a few specimens of each type had been preserved in areas of green. Yet, there was still life here.

Coruscant literally meant glittering. And nothing glittered more than the millions of souls here – some felt good, some felt bad, some were in between. But they were all bright and brilliant and dotted the expanse of the planet the way the ancient light of the stars did the sky.

The planet had changed, but it hadn’t died. A lot of people living here did their best to keep the air clean, to make sure all types of life, even plant and animal life grow, to keep people living. Each person was living their life here. Each person had a heartbeat that resonated in her montrals. And they were never ending.

“Ahsoka”, a voice called out to her.

She turned around and looked down.

“Ahsoka, please get down”, Amahle said with a little fear in her voice.

That seemed to snap Ahsoka out of her daze. What was she looking at?

Suddenly, the path seemed a little clearer.

“This way”, the Togruta said as she jumped down from the railing. She then held Amahle’s wrist and pulled her behind her as she ran down the walkway.

After a minute or so of running, they reached the food street on the edge of the Meridian Commercial district, the zero-hour time zone for Coruscant just eight klicks to the west of the temple.

The street was crowded as usual, making the eight foot wide path look smaller and more constrictive than it actually was. Street food carts and stalls lined the sides of the path bordered by the railings behind them. And people milled about trying all kinds of wares.

Ahsoka held Amahle’s hand tighter as she pulled her through the crowd so they wouldn’t get separated in the crowd that left barely an inch between people.

She could smell the plentiful flavours in the air along with the smog of cooking gas and food steam. The voices of both the food sellers and the customers, their bites and their heartbeats echoed in Ahsoka’s montrals. She could see the flames from the wok, the various ingredients and spices laid out in plates, pots or skewers. There were stalls for barbecued gizka steaks, a whole buffet of meat and vegetable dishes from Cornelia, nuna prepared in curry and even rare delicacies like smoked Omereth giant eel strips and skewered and roasted Kowakian monkey-lizards. She saw marinated scalefish being deep-fried in oil and her mouth watered. The temple kitchens only ever prepared poached scalefish fillets.

Amahle saw the way she eyed the meat and came to a decision.

“Come on”, she said and pulled her smaller frame toward the stall with various water farmed delicacies. “One plate of scalefish fry and one slice of marbled sea-pea cake please.”

The woman behind the stall looked down at them but started serving the requested food once Amahle started pulling out credits from the inside of her jacket.

Once the food was paid for and they had their food in hand, they made their way to the Meridian plaza where the zero-longitude ran through. The sun had sunk a little lower in the horizon telling them that it was a little past noon. Most of the citizens had returned to work by them, so the public spaces were not as crowded. They found an empty bench under the shade of the tree where they could sit and eat.

“Have you heard the story about the golden song fish?” Amahle suddenly asked.

“No”, Ahsoka replied once she swallowed the big bite of the fish she had taken.

“Hmm”, Amahle said nibbling thoughtfully on her cake, “Maybe I’ll tell it to you one day. We are walking toward the Sunset Gardens, aren’t we?”

Ahsoka thought about it. She really didn’t know why she was leading Amahle in this direction. However, now that a particular name was mentioned, she felt that that is where they should be.

All of a sudden, her stomach started churning just as she was about to take a bite. She looked up and saw a man starting to approach her. He was Human and he was smiling gently. But when his green eyes landed on them…

Ahsoka stuffed her fish into her mouth, chewed as fast as she could and swallowed it all. She then turned to Amahle.

“Amahle, let’s go”, she said urgently.

“What?” Amahle asked, but some instinct in her told her to listen to the Togruta. So she ate the last two spoonfuls of cake she had left and followed Ahsoka as she got up. They disposed of their cutlery and plates as they made their way swiftly off the plaza.

Ahsoka looked back once they were on the walkway. She could no longer see or hear the man.

She held onto Amahle’s hand even when the plaza was far behind her.

*****

It took a little longer to get reach the Sunset Gardens. It was only when she slipped past the gate that she realised what the Gardens really were.

“A graveyard”, she whispered softly to herself as she followed Amahle up a small hill. They passed several memorials, some made of stone, some crafted from wood, some of strange alloys, but all marked where loved ones had returned to the Force.

Amahle came to a stop at the crest of the hill and fell to her knees in front of a small simple memorial. ‘Mpho’, it said in bright, bold Aurebesh.

Ahsoka couldn’t understand what she was seeing. “Amahle?”she asked softly.

“Some part of me knew this had happened”, Amahle said softly, calmly, “He was really, really old. He couldn’t run or play as well anymore.”

Ahsoka watched as soft tears dribbled down her eyes.

“Do you know the story about the golden song fish?” Amahle asked.

“No”, Ahsoka replied.

Amahle patted the ground beside her as she fell back on her rear and sat on the soft grass. Ahsoka slowly sat down as well.

“Once upon a time, there was a girl who had a beautiful golden song fish”, the Pantoran girl began, “The song fish always sang beautiful songs. However, one day the fish disappeared from its aquarium. The family searched high and low, but they never found it again.”

Ahsoka looked down at the grave marked with a simple oval marble stone. “What happened then?” she asked softly.

“It took a while, but the girl soon found out that the fish had died. Her parents did not want to hurt her, so they buried the fish when she was at school. They tried to get another song fish to replace it, but the pet shelter did not have any at the time.”

Amahle brought up her knees to her chest and cross her arms over them. “I wish my parents had just told me the truth”, she said softly, “I knew Mpho was old. And I knew he was going to die soon. Everyone grows old and dies one day. I just wish he knew that I loved him and to see if he had been happy with me.”

Ahsoka did not know what to say. So she just tilted over and rested her shoulder against Amahle’s. Both girls sat quietly before the grave of the old massiff as the sun began it’s descent over the horizon.

*****

The man was there again. But this time, he was leading an Ithorian child by the hand. There was something wrong here.

_Wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong_

Ahsoka pulled Amahle to a walkway close to a cab booth.

“Can you go home safely?” she asked the Pantoran girl.

“Ahsoka, I’m older than you and I know more about Coruscant”, Amahle replied confidently, “Of course I can.”

“Amahle, please go home”, the Togruta instructed.

“What? Why?”

“Amahle, please! Go home and tell the Police to come here.”

“What’s going on?”

“Please, trust me, Amahle”, Ahsoka pleaded.

The Pantoran girl stopped. She thought back to the entire day, how the little Togruta had led her to the right destination even when she did not know much about Coruscant and how she had led her away from the plaza with such haste.

“Ok, I will”, Amahle agreed, but then squeezed Ahsoka’s hands between her own, “But please be careful.”

“I will.”

*****

He was wearing a hooded jacket now. It made it harder to track him. But sight wasn’t the only thing that Togruta’s used.

Ahsoka followed the sound of his heartbeat and his very odd, black-hole-like presence in the Force. When she found him in Level 2012 just under the precinct she and Amahle had parted, he was leading another child, a species she hadn’t seen before, by the hand. The child was brown skinned with lighter brown spots on his face and had two montrals above his pointed ears and before his hairline.

The man suddenly stopped and looked back. Ahsoka ducked out of sight.

That was close.

Once the man started walking again, she followed.

A few minutes later, he was pulling the child through a small door in an alley in the slum district. Ahsoka waited behind a garbage bin and held her breath.

_Don’t see me. Don’t see me. Don’t see me. I’m not here. I’m not here. I’m not here. Don’t see me._

The man came out again and he walked away in the direction opposite to her. However, once he reached the end of the alley, he turned back and scanned his surroundings.

Ahsoka remained where she was and did not move.

_Don’t see me. I’m not here. Don’t see me. I’m not here. Don’t see me. I’m not here._

After what seemed like an eternity, the man turned back and walked away.

Ahsoka waited for another minute before approaching the door. She then tried to open it. Obviously, it was locked.

Sighing, she turned to the Force. After all, it had led her here.

_“So, I heard that Togruta have passive echolocation”, her master stated casually, “It helps all of you get a multi-layered three-dimensional view of your surroundings that most species would be envious of.”_

_“What has that got to do with this”, she cried out in frustration while gesturing toward the box he had given her, the box he had made specifically as a puzzle for her. Its outside was seamless because the lock and the latch were on the **inside**._

_“Well, here’s the thing”, he said patiently as he sat down across from her and pulled the box toward himself, “Every locking system has mechanical components. Most have electronic controls but the base of a locking mechanism is, well, mechanical.”_

_Ahsoka just looked flatly at his grinning face._

_“And…”_

_“Figuring out how the mechanics work is just the first step”, he said as he rotated the rectangular box on the table and then pushed it toward her, “Unlike me, who had to study the three-hundred types of the existing eight hundred or so locking mechanisms used across the galaxy along with thousands of their variants to try and figure out which is the most suitable one for any given security system, you, as a Togruta, have an unfair advantage. You can use your passive echolocation to not just figure out what type of locking mechanism is in this box, but also how it works.”_

_Ahsoka kinda understood where he was going with this. So she pulled the box closer to her and knocked it a few times. The echoes she got back told her exactly where the lock was and that it was made of three simple deadbolts. She looked up at the man sitting opposite to her and raised one of her eyebrow markings. “Now what?”_

_“The second step, you use the Force”, he said and smirked, “With **precision**. Focus on the parts you need to move to unlock it.”_

_So she did. Calling upon the Force, she gently nudged the three bolts apart. She then opened the box._

_And screamed and fell back off the bench when a gizka jumped out at her._

_She blinked up at the ceiling and came to the realisation that the ringing she heard in her montrals was her master’s laughter. And that the gizka was a cheap plastoid toy attached to a spring inside the box._

_“Master!” she yelled indignantly as she scrambled to her feet._

_He was bent over clutching his stomach with his forehead on the table. With one last snicker, he tilted his head up until his chin was resting on the table. “Sorry Snips”, he said not sounding sorry at all, “But that look on your face was priceless.”_

She wondered who that man was.

But that wasn’t important right now.

She tapped the door a few times and closed her eyes to focus on the echoes. The picture she got back was that of a more complex locking mechanism with a three main axles, several hooked levers, gears, barrels and cylinders, with several electronic initiators connected to the control.

She called the Force to her and focused on all the moving parts. It was difficult, she hadn’t focused on so many things at once before. In fact, she had only focused on moving one object with the Force in her classes. But she wouldn’t give up.

She placed both her hands on the door and focused. The entire mechanism went beyond the door and deep into the walls, but she would not give up.

The axles moved without the electric prompt signal, the levers were unhooked, and the gears turned. In less than a minute, the door slid open to reveal a dark corridor.

She closed her eyes and opened them again. Her bright blue eyes gleamed in the darkness as she made her way down it.

Outside, a bird let out a hoot and a cry.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So...  
> I wanted to put the whole incident into one chapter, but then I realised that the word count would exceed 10k and even I don't have the patience to read (write) so much.
> 
> Also, the last bit (yeah, you know the one) had me sobbing in front of my laptop.
> 
> Anywho, chapter 5 will be out soon...  
> Hopefully...


	5. Shadows dancing on the wall

The temple had several nooks and crannies to hide within, above little alcoves near the classrooms, over arched entrance ways, behind pillars, under stairs and so on. Having been built based on the natural structure of an ancient mountain, the temple had too many small areas that were seldom explored. Maybe they were simply claimed by the rare few because the others didn’t find them first or simply didn’t even bother to try.

Obi-Wan remembered how Ahsoka used a lot of these places to hide in and then pounce on unsuspecting younglings, padawans and even knights like the predator she was.

In a way, it helped, he supposed, when she pounced on him. At first, he could barely sense anything out of place and was always caught off guard when she jumped on him and drove his face into the floor. But he got better at sensing people around him, even to the point that he could do it subconsciously. Like the day when Quinlan tried to pounce on him and he hadn’t even noticed. He had his nose buried in a datapad when he stepped out of the way of the Kiffar, causing the poor initiate to fall flat on his face.

Or maybe that was because Quinlan simply did not know how to pounce like a predator should.

Anyway, he was digressing.

The point was that there were several little hidey-holes throughout the temple and he had come to know all of them over the years he knew Ahsoka.

Yet, that did not help any because he was looking for his Togruta friend, but she was nowhere to be found.

*****

It was close to sunset and yet he saw no signs of his wayward youngling. Master Sinube would be well and truly senile before he let anyone escape his senses. He had known she had heard the call and he had let her go to help her satisfy her growing curiosity and help ensure she never felt chained.

He was wondering if that was a mistake on his part.

However, the Force rang clear with its objection, even though he didn’t understand why it was so.

It was at that moment that he saw Jedi Knight Mace Windu storm toward him like a man on a mission.

Tera Sinube let out a quiet sigh when the Human was near him. “I suppose you are here to ask about Ahsoka?” he asked the young man before he could even open his mouth.

Young Mace’s mouth snapped shut. He took in a deep breath, let it out and spoke in a much softer tone, “She hasn’t come by to annoy me today. I cannot sense her anywhere in the temple.”

Ah, he remembers now. Dear Little Ahsoka seemed to have a lot of questions for the Champion, ranging from “What is the Dark side?”, “Why is it bad?”, “Why should we even not think of learning about it?”, “How do you use it?” and so on.

It seemed that Mace must have gotten a little too used to the questions no matter how much he claimed it drove him up a wall and used the excuse of meditation to escape.

 _Perks of being a Togruta, I suppose_ , the old master thought, _their pack mentality tends to rub off on other species._

And then Jedi Knight Qui-Gon Jinn walked up to them.

“Looking for Ahsoka?” Tera Sinube asked again. “She didn’t come by to annoy you?”

Qui-Gon opened his mouth and closed it. He looked at Tera, then Mace and then quietly nodded his head.

And then Plo Koon came up to him.

“Master Sinube”, he greeted.

“No, Plo, Little ‘Soka is not in the temple”, Master Sinube replied in leiu of a greeting.

That seemed to startle all three Jedi.

“Master, what do you mean…?”

Mace never got complete his questions because Little Obi-Wan just came skidding around the corner.

“Master Sinube”, he called out, completely ignoring the other, larger Jedi around him, “Ahsoka is not in the temple. I looked for her everywhere.”

“I know”, the old master replied with a sigh. This was getting out of hand. Togruta were known to form packs wherever they went, but this was ridiculous.

And that was when the comm he carried around beeped.

 _“Master Sinube, good evening”_ , the Inspector greeted him and then proceeded straight to business, _“There is a child here claiming that one of your little Jedi asked her to call the police to the Meridian Commercial district. I have to ask this, is one of your initiates missing?”_

Tera opened his mouth to answer but the Inspector cut him off. _“Nevermind. I request you make your way to the district post haste.”_ And with that final message, the communication ended.

The sheer curtness in the Inspector's demeanour made most of them bristle. But Master Sinube just sighed. Several cases of children missing without a trace was surely taking a toll on the Security Force. And the Jedi High Council’s refusal to intervene because the children were not Force sensitive just added to the bitterness. The reasoning being that the Jedi could not interfere with all problems of the Republic rarely sat well with both the members of the Order and the citizens outside the Order.

 _Well,_ the old master thought wryly, _the Jedi should surely intervene now that one of our own somehow ended up in the thick of it._

*****

“They are just shadows and darkness”, she told herself just two steps in. However, the shadows and darkness seemed to writhe with a life of their own. The only bit of light was the still open door behind her. It was also very, very cold. If only she could find a switch…

The corridor ended in a room that seemed to be better lit than the hallway she walked through. There seemed to be a few transparisteel windows that let the light in and lots of tables.

She gasped as she saw eight children lying unmoving on the tables.

_Wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong_

The Force echoed in her montrals like anguished wailing.

_Wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong_

There was something clinging to the other children in this room, something that was hurting them, something that was removing an important part of them, changing them…

That realisation shocked her out of her fear.

She ran to the nearest child, a Rodian child, and tried to shake her awake.

“Well, what do we have here?” a cold, but curious voice sounded behind her.

Ahsoka felt ice run down her spine. She turned around slowly and came face to face with the man from earlier. He had crouched down so he would be at eye-level with her. His eyes glowed a poisonous green but his face was otherwise expressionless.

“You seem a long way from home, little one”, he said slowly as he folded up the sleeve of his jacket to reveal the bracer he had on underneath.

The moment Ahsoka saw the bracer she felt a jolt strike her body. Her eyes lost focus and she heard the malicious hymn it sang – deep, repetitive and haunting.

“I was wondering how I could nab a Jedi youngling”, he stated as he slowly got up and walked around her. “Thank you for making my job easier for me”, he really sounded grateful and that made the young initiate sick. She wanted to throw up her lunch.

“Come now, let’s talk business, Little Jedi.”

Ahsoka made to step back, to run back, to use the Force, anything…

But he was suddenly there, and he caught hold of her wrists so tightly that she heard her bones creak and felt her fingers go numb.

_“You are the only one who believed in me. You are the only one I can trust.”_

_Hands suddenly clutched both her wrists in a vice-like grip. It was so tight that she heard her wrist bones creak and felt her fingers go numb._

_“I won’t let anyone hurt you anymore. I promise.”_

_And then the world shattered._

She didn’t understand why, but her body went limp. Whatever strength she had was now lost in the man’s hands. She wanted to yell, to scream, to move, to call the Force, anything. It was like she was trapped in a doll that looked like her, and no matter how much she screamed and cried and banged her hands on the walls, the puppet just refused to move. No matter how hard she tried, her body just refused to respond.

The man looked down at her and she could see a faint spark of sympathy in his eyes. “I didn’t even need to use the bracer”, he muttered softly, “Someone hurt you, little one.” But then he looked at her contemplatively. “No matter, they just made my job easier.”

He then pulled her to one of the tables and placed her limp body on it, oblivious to the young girl screaming at him in the confines of her own mind.

*****

“Isn’t this a bit excessive?” Qui-Gon asked and realised his mistake when the Human Inspector shot him a truly venomous glare.

“This is the first true lead we have had in months”, the man snapped at the Jedi, “Which is why so many of our officers are here doing the sweeps. So unless you can use your much-hyped, extra-sensory perception to help us locate the child, stand back and let us do our job!”

“My apologies”, the Jedi replied, not wanting to push a man already standing at the edge. The fact that the Jedi High Council had turned down a request for assistance to search for younglings (Younglings) left a bitter taste in his mouth. He saw both Mace Windu and Plo Koon standing equally stiffly as they tried to reach out with the Force. And beside them, Master Sinube looked sad and resigned.

He understood that he needed to be calm. Nothing further could be done until they miraculously had another lead or Ahsoka…

A sudden hoot forced him out of his thoughts.

He looked up and saw a Convor perched on one of the many neon signposts. Its plumage was a light green on its back and its underside was a pure white, an unusual colouring. Its presence in the Force was… unique. And it was looking straight at him, or rather, looking through him.

It let out a soft hoot and took off, diving down into the lower levels below.

Qui-Gon didn’t even think. Calling the Force to him, he jumped. He heard Windu yell behind him, but didn’t even bother to acknowledge it.

*****

_The darkness twisted and roiled around her._

The shadows danced in the changing lights of the twilight.

_The voices were howling, crying, pleading, begging, screaming…_

It was really quiet.

_She tried to move..._

She wanted to move…

_“Ahsoka”, a man’s voice along with a monster’s…_

_“Ahsoka”, a boy’s voice that sounded too old…_

_“Ahsoka”, two voices belonging to one woman, familiar and comforting…_

_“Calm down and breathe!”_

Ahsoka let out a loud gasp as her back arched off the table. She turned onto her side, curled up and started coughing, trying to get her breathing to even out as quickly as possible. After what felt like hours but could not have been more than a minute, she was breathing normally. She sat up and looked around her. The man was down the corridor and near the door.

It must have been some primal instinct in him, something left behind from his forefathers, for he was not Force sensitive, but he turned around in an instant.

Ahsoka reached out to him, calling the Force to her. But he was faster. He was racing down the hallway and then diving down before the she could even push him back with her power. He then continued in a roll and sprang to his feet in front of her, hand reaching out to grab her wrist.

However, the Togruta reacted on instinct. She quickly rolled off the table to the other side and fell to the floor in a crouch. And as the man moved to round the table, she grabbed the first thing her hand could reach and chucked it at him.

Bottles, bags, datapads and random tools went sailing through the air, meeting the man’s body in her attempt to put distance between them. He flinched and tried to shield himself, but it did not stop him from nearing her.

Unfortunately, she ran out of things she could throw and the man had advanced on her. This time, though, she knew he would go for her wrists and she was ready.

He reached for her again, but she twisted her right wrist and instead grabbed hold of the bracer.

_Let go let go let go let go let go_

_It hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts_

_I don’t want to go I don’t want to go I don’twanttogoIdon’twanttogoIdon’twanttogo_

**_Come with me!_ **

“NO!” Ahsoka screamed as she snapped out of the daze the bracer had put her into. That bracer was the reason this man was able to do this to her and the other children. So what she needed to do in turn was very clear.

The man placed his other hand on the one she used to clutch the bracer, but Ahsoka simply used her left hand to dig her claws into the back of his hand. He yelped and tried to pull himself away, and it was a struggle for her to hold on. His hands were much larger than hers, he was bigger and stronger than her. And he pulled her up until her feet were dangling in midair, but she didn’t let go.

She couldn’t let go.

With a loud cry, she called the Force to her.

And suddenly everything was clear.

There was a shadow clinging, to the bracer.

No, it was inside it.

She had to remove it, destroy it.

 _Break_ , she commanded, _break!_

The shadow refused to move. But then she saw it.

Cracks of light within, starting from a point and slowly growing.

_Break break break break break break break break **Break!**_

The cracks grew and the light shone through.

Words appeared in her mind, words for these cracks and what they meant.

_Shatterpoint. This changes things._

With one final cry, she pushed all her will through the Force just like she had been instructed to in her classes.

There was a ripple in the air around her.

And then an explosion.

Ahsoka fell back against the far wall and the man crashed into the wall on the other side of the room. The young Togruta barely made it to her feet before the man was charging at her. She shielded her head with her arms on instinct.

And the door to the apartment was torn open.

*****

Qui-Gon landed in a roll on the platform. He then turned to the Convor perched on the railing. It was staring intently down the alley before him.

He heard both Masters Plo Koon and Mace Windu land behind him and started forward. They had barely made it three steps in when they felt the shockwave in the Force that made them stumble and fall.

Mace, of course, was the first to react. He was quick to get on his feet and track the signature to the door from where the Force blast originated. He used the Force to tear the door straight out of the structure and charged into the building light saber in hand. The other Jedi were close behind him.

Once they were inside, Qui-Gon was sure that what they all saw made their blood boil.

There were around eight children lying motionless on sterile tables. Little Ahsoka was crouched against a far wall and a man was looming over her.

“Get away from her”, Mace Windu stated coldly.

Ahsoka peeked hesitantly from behind her arms. All around her, the children started to wake.

“Away from the younglings”, the Champion repeated and this time he ignited his purple lightsaber.

The man seemed to obey and took a few steps back with his arms raised.

Plo was the first to move toward the children, Qui-Gon close behind him. Mace slowly circled around until he placed himself between the man and the children on the other side.

“What are you doing with these children?” Jedi Knight Windu asked.

“Completing my assignment”, the man said flatly. His face was so completely expressionless that it was impressive. Even his signature in the Force revealed nothing.

“Assignment?” Qui-Gon asked, gently trying to use his influence to coax out more answers.

“I thought I had more time”, the man admitted, “Guess, I was wrong. I am curious though. How did you find me?” His eyes moved to the broken remains of a device lying on the floor. Based on the size and curve of the largest piece, it was a bracer. “I was told I’d be impossible to track.”

“You’re quiet”, a soft voice said from behind all of them. Qui-Gon looked down at the young Togruta girl who had just managed to get to her feet with Plo’s help. “The only sound I could hear was your heartbeat.” Ahsoka then stood in front of the huddled children and glared at him challengingly. “I didn’t follow a sound. I followed the lack of one. You were too quiet, like a dead animal.”

At that, the man chuckled. “Right you are, young one.” His arm suddenly moved to his belt and he plucked something from a pouch under his jacket. He held it up to show a grenade that beeped once. “We’re all dead.”

As soon as the second beep sounded, Ahsoka pushed out her hand faster than any of the Jedi in the room could react. The Force surged around her and pushed forward. The man was thrown backwards at such velocity that he flew right out the door.

Once he was over the platform and in open space, the grenade beeped for the third time and then exploded. There was a ball of fire and rippling shockwaves that shook the platform and drew screams from the citizens around them.

But once everything died down, every one slowly got to their feet.

Qui-Gon was trying to calm the startled younglings when he saw Ahsoka lead Mace to the remains of the bracer. Now that he could focus, he could feel the darkness rolling off it.

Mace looked at it grimly before picking it up and placing it within his sleeve.

Outside, the sounds of police sirens echoed along with the murmurs of fear and curiosity.

*****

“This was what he was using to lure the younglings”, Mace said as he placed the remains of what he realised was a bracer on the table, “It’s infused with the Dark side and seems to have been used for hypnosis. We will need to investigate it at the temple.”

“I suppose you will be taking over investigations **now** ”, the Inspector spat, “After we already lost thirty two children without a trace?” Every inch of the man was stiff. There were dark circles under his eyes and his cheeks had hollowed out. He looked dead on his feet, but filled with such cold fury it would have frozen a star several times over.

“Yes”, Mace admitted bluntly. He made sure that to keep his expression as neutral as possible. There was no going around the error made by the Order and the magnitude of the consequences of it. “For what it’s worth, I’m truly sorry.”

“Save it. It really doesn’t mean much to **them** ”, the man shot back. He then turned around and walked away toward the parents who were gathering up their lost young ones.

For a moment, Mace was left to wonder how many parents would not be getting their little ones back. The thought left him with a guilt he knew would not let him sleep for the next several nights.

Behind him, Master Plo remained still and silent, but the turbulence in his Force signature and how tightly his hands were clasped together in front of him betrayed his sorrow and regret.

*****

“Master, I’m sorry”, Ahsoka stated as they made their way up the stairs.

Master Sinube sighed at her. He looked conflicted.

“Ahsoka, my dear”, he stated softly as he hobbled beside her, “you broke the rules and snuck out. You didn’t even tell us. You worried your masters, your crèchemates and even your friends. Do you know how long Obi-Wan spent looking for you? How worried he was that he couldn’t find you?”

Ahsoka looked down at her feet. She could just imagine her friend now, he would be so worried sick that he would have started crying. And then when he would see her he would yell at her with red eyes and a voice that cracked and broke. And he would cry again. And then he wouldn’t talk to her for so long and she wouldn’t even be able to bribe him with sweet bread…

“However, you did what needed to be done”, Master Sinube continued, “There is no simple way of putting this. I just can’t punish you knowing that you were answering the call of the Force.”

When Ahsoka looked up at him, he looked really old and tired. “We will talk more once we are in the temple. We just need to go back and look at everything you did today to see where you went wrong and what you could have done better.”

He then placed his hand on her shoulder. “Please remember, Ahsoka. Things in life are seldom as simple as they seem. We all need to start carefully considering all our actions, lest they lead to horrifying consequences.”

Taking in a deep breath, Ahsoka prepared herself to face the consequences of her actions. She would need to face whatever punishment and lecture that awaited her, be it refresher duty or being grounded for the rest of her life or even… she gulped… being expelled from the Order.

More importantly, she would need to listen to whatever Obi had to say to her. She owed him that much.

She had to do this, no matter how much she disliked it or how much she was scared of it.

So she held her head up high and looked at the temple ahead of her.

And suddenly realised something.

Other than the four towers, the temple had no windows.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Based on the movies and the animated series, it seems that Force sensitive children mature faster than normal children. Is it because of their connection to the Force? The extra perception could make them learn things much before other children.
> 
> Something worth exploring, I suppose.
> 
> Now, for my personal rant - Feel free to have other opinions, cause this is purely mine and no one is obliged to share it.
> 
> I am kinda confused that people keep saying that The Clone Wars is too dark for a kid's show. But I think it is a perfect show for kids because it does explore concepts that young ones should know. Dealing with death, the horrible consequences of war, warnings about child predators... kids who don't know of these things will not be prepared to face them in real life. And the real world can be horrifying. I was read the Mahabharata during bedtime, and that helped me understand interpersonal relationships, death and the complexity of our world at a young age.
> 
> So, yes, I am of the belief that stories aimed at kids being cutesy and tame with no exploration of the dangers of this world are actually a disservice. That said, I am very much against grittiness for the sake of it (Man of Steel, Batman v Superman, etc) and torture porn (Magical Girl Site).


	6. The apprentice

She had never thought that the sun rising over the horizon on Coruscant could be beautiful. Yet, here she was, perched over the awning, out of sight of anyone on the terrace, looking toward the east, watching as the light broke over the cityscape, bursting forth and drenching all the planet in brilliant rays that were reflected by facades of the multitude of skyscrapers that scattered it in every direction possible. The floating bill boards and the traffic in the skylanes glimmered and shone under the soft morning rays.

In a matter of minutes, the sun had crossed beyond the horizon and the sky had changed from the brilliant oranges, yellows and reds in shades of golden to a much softer, serene blue. It was breathtaking.

And it was a sight that she had missed for a long time.

For all the people complained that Coruscant was lifeless, they didn’t see the glittering light of life through the taint and the pollution that lit up the city more than any artificial source could. There was life here, just as brilliant and soothing as anywhere else in the galaxy.

_It was dark here._

_The once stalwart ziggurat that represented peace was now the source of strife and sorrow._

_Everything that they had been, everything they would have been was stripped from every corner of the temple. All that remained were ashes. And he sat on those ahses, on a throne made of bones and blood, reveling in his victory, the scourge of the galaxy…_

She fell to her knees and nearly fell off the awning. Her stomach churned and her breath came out in short breaths that didn’t help.

Everything hurt.

Ahsoka was seven years old and here she felt that she was ten times her age while the sun and the sky looked twenty years younger.

“I’m one with the Force, and the Force is with me”, she chanted desperately, “I’m one with the Force, and the Force is with me. I’m one with the Force, and the Force is with me. I’m one with the Force, and the Force is with me. I’m one with the Force, and the Force is with me. I’m one with the Force…”

It took a while but she eventually got her breathing under control. Once she was sure she could move her trembling limbs, she pulled herself to her feet. She felt wobbly and disoriented, she had a distinct thought that she probably looked like a newborn mokele-mbembe that could barely find its footing.

She hadn’t been able to sleep for the past three rotations, haunted by terrible dreams such as the one she just had. She couldn’t make sense of it, but it made her itch just under her skin, like she was in the wrong body. Everything felt wrong, wrong, WRONG.

She knew this wasn’t healthy. It hurt her a lot. But she wasn’t sure she could tell anyone, not because she couldn’t trust them. No, but because she didn’t know what she could tell them. Were these visions or just nightmares? Was she going mad?

Taking a deep breath helped her steady herself a bit. Her throat still ached and her eyes still burned. Her montrals still rang with the trill of distress that only Togrutas could make and hear. But she just wiped the saliva leaking out of the corner of her mouth with the back of her forearm, looked out at the horizon and slowly made her way down to the temple below.

The initiates would be waking up at this time and breakfast and classes would begin soon after. Whatever was happening to her, she would not use it as an excuse to fall behind.

Ahsoka Tano never fell behind.

*****

“Ahsoka?” a whisper, “Ahsoka, wake up.”

She blinked her eyes open and looked at Kriye sitting next to her. The little Human girl with a soft earthy skin so close in tone to her own looked at her in worry.

“Ahsoka, are you ok?” she asked quietly.

Ahsoka’s mouth opened with an automatic reply of _I’m fine_ on the tip of her tongue. But it clicked close at Kriye’s frown. The little Togruta girl looked down at her shaking hands clutching the stylus like a lifeline and at the datapad that had clear notes even though she wasn’t sure what the topic being covered was.

“Ahsoka?” Kriye asked again.

“It’s ok”, Ahsoka whispered back, “I’ll figure it out.” _I have to._ She took a deep, fortified breath before turning her attention to the lecture.

Oh, it was a lecture about the equatorial rainforests on multi-biome planets in the mid regions of circumstellar habitable zones.

_They were being hunted and they had no way to defend themselves. The only thing they had was the limited safety of the flora and foliage around them._

_She was new, but there were those that were younger than her yet held here for a lot longer._

_Where was the glory in this game? Hunting those weaker than them for pleasure! Killing those who couldn’t fight back to make themselves feel stronger!_

“Ahsoka!”

She blinked and looked up. When did she fall to the floor? Everyone was looking at her. And Master Erie was in front of her.

“Ahsoka, can you hear me?” she asked.

“Yes—“

_“Who doesn’t want to be a **mother?** ”_

_“There are no Jedi!”_

_“This Republic is **failing!** It’s only a matter of time.”_

_“Let me go. Let me die!_ **_YOU'RE ALL GOING TO BURN! WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE! YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU'RE DOING!”_**

_It was an endless space of black, an existence between existences, and one outside of time._

_And there he stood._

_A boy._

_He looked at her with such sadness, with such pain and a heart filled with nothing but guilt and regret._

_“I’m sorry”, he cried softly, “I’m sorry…”_

_She couldn’t help but reach out to him. She couldn’t speak for others. She had no right to. But…_

_“It’s alright”, she said as she cupped his cheek and raised his head, “I forgive you for what you did to me.”_

_Fire… everything was burning…_

_“Run!” she screamed as she tackled him and pinned him down from behind. She would not let this tragedy repeat itself, “Run!” He shook her off and pushed her to the far end. She found her footing and leapt back. He twisted to the left, but she used what foothold she could get, leapt above his push, flipped onto the side of one of the stone pillars and used it to dive down to land on his back. He crumpled under her weight for she was no longer small, and this time she grabbed the back of his head and pressed his face into the gravel below with every bit of strength she could muster. She had to brace herself against the shockwaves emanating from him that threatened to blow her away. Her bones quaked, her muscles strained, her montrals rang, her eyes teared up and her organs felt like they were being twisted inside her. She wanted so badly to heave, barely processing everything that was happening around her. She only knew that it was WRONG and that she had to stop it. She looked up at the masters before her. “Take them and run! Now!” she yelled as she called the Force to her. The light answered her call, just as the shadows had answered his call. And then the world exploded._

*****

The stylus skittered off his datapad as he nearly jumped in surprise. He felt it before anyone else did.

And then the ground rumbled underneath them, there was the horrifying sounds of heavy things crashing and falling, followed closely by terrified screams.

He didn’t even wait for the rumbling to stop and he certainly didn’t bother to ask for permission. He just got up and ran even as Master Vant tried to get her class to calm down.

He had seen this once before and he knew exactly where he needed to be.

*****

When Erie could finally get her feet beneath her, she saw a boy come running down the hallway and skidding into the classroom. His grey-blue eyes looked around, taking in the damage before they finally landed on the figure curled up on the ground.

“Ahsoka!” he called and fell into a crouch at her side.

Oh, that must be initiate Kenobi, the only one who seemed to be able to keep initiate Tano somewhat in line.

She took stock of her classroom. It looked like the epicentre of an explosion. The furniture and equipment were thrown against the walls. Thankfully the younglings seemed to be safe and unharmed though terribly shaken.

It was at that moment that the Masters currently present in the temple started rushing in.

*****

“Another one”, Master Che muttered as she started swiping things on her data pad, “Only this one physically manifested as an explosion. The last violent one was three years ago, but even that one wasn’t as violent as this one. Every other vision manifested in milder ways. Unsettling…”

Obi-Wan just sat quietly and watched as she paced about. Bant sat beside him with a hand clutching his sleeve. She probably did not understand what was going on but he was nevertheless grateful that she was here.

“Physical scans show normal brain activity and there seems to be no damage to any part of her musculo-skeletal system…”

On his other side sat Master Sinube. His hands were folded over his cane and he rested his chin on them. He looked like he was deep in thought.

“No spike in her midi-chlorian count…”

It was at that moment that the door slid open and one of the young padawans walked in hesitantly. “Master Che, Master Sinube”, she said softly as soon as she spotted them, “Master Yoda has arrived. You are both needed in the Council Chamber.”

“I will be there”, Master Che replied as she walked toward Ahsoka’s room in the Halls of Healing, “As soon as I—“

All those who were present looked up as she stopped short.

With a feeling of dread sitting firmly in the pit of his stomach, Obi-Wan rushed forward to see what was wrong. And when he looked in, he saw that Ahsoka’s bed was empty.

*****

She could smell it, the smell of clay after the rain. The smell from so long ago, when she was but a babe in Shili, before the black blood held her mother in its cold embrace.

 _Petrichor_ , her mother had once told her. The fragrance of cool water touching sun-baked earth.

This was soon followed by the fragrance of white agar and golden sandal. These were the trees that grew in regions of plentiful rainfall, in the rainforests of the Rakthurvarā mountains, the mountains made of red soil. The woodcutters chopped them up and brought them to her town, where they were either carved into expensive wood trinkets for the rich or sun-dried and distilled to make fragrant oils.

This was soon followed by the chirps of touca and shomoro birds and the hymn-like buzz of the amriti bees.

The Force felt warm like the sunlight after a storm and it called to her with a song low and long.

So she followed.

*****

“I made sure she was asleep before I left her”, Master Che paced about while wringing her hands, “I kept track of her for a good forty minutes and only left when she was in a deep sleep.”

Seated on the chairs on the other side of the room were Initiates Kenobi and Eerin. They looked scared and worried as well.

Yoda could understand their anxiousness. He really could. However, in the past nine hundred years of his life he had seen more than his fair share of younglings wander off after hearing the Call. The gift was very rare, but those who had it often did things with no apparent explanation, the purpose revealing itself at different points of their lives.

But perhaps what was more disturbing was how often and how powerful the Call was for this particular child.

“Please calm yourself, my dear”, Master Sinube said, “If you slowed down and concentrated, you would have noticed that our dear youngling is still in the temple and that she has actually left a trail in the Force.”

Yes, Yoda had sensed it too. However, Master Sinube had greater precision in such tracking methods owing to his years of service as a Jedi Investigator and a liaison with the Coruscant Security Force and various law enforcement organisations across the galaxy.

“Her presence is blazing and she had done nothing to hide herself. I’m sure we will be able to find her when we need to.”

*****

Her journey took her down many hallways, past many robed people and looming statues of old, colourful murals and stalwart stone pillars, open arches and inward-facing windows. Her path wound its way around the temple, went up a few floors, came down again, turned everywhere until she had completed three circles around the courtyard in increasing radii and then continued on.

She vaguely understood that the song in her montrals was of the past, the present and the future. She didn’t understand the words but she loved the melody.

She turned a corner and the song stopped.

She looked up and found herself alone in a long corridor that ended in a massive steel door. There were no windows and the ceiling was so high that it was lost in the shadows. She didn’t remember ever having seeing this part in the temple. There were pillars lining this corridor, and on these pillars were carvings of predatory creatures running.

 _Wolves_ , she heard a familiar, deep-toned voice she didn’t recognise say.

Should she continue?

The Force did not answer.

She looked back at the hallway that would take her back to her classes and her masters and then looked forward at the door ahead of her.

Perhaps it was her reckless nature, perhaps it was that she had something to prove to herself or perhaps it was mere curiosity, but Ahsoka took her first step forward and saw the cracks appear in the world around her.

Ahsoka Tano always walked forward.

*****

Yoda felt the sudden urge to look up. So he did.

There, perched on the stone railing of one of the upper floors, was a bird unlike any he had seen before.

It looked like a Convor but it had strange colours, green on the back, white on the underbelly and gold around its eyes. He had never before encountered a creature that felt like this, an eddy in the Force, an unusually large part of it. And if felt like…

The Convor chirped softly, spread its wings and took off.

*****

The door opened slowly and quietly.

It was dark on the other side, but not pitch black. Everything was muted, covered in shadows, with just enough light to see parts of the world around her.

She saw ripples on the floor below her. It looked like the surface of a still pond only disturbed by the water-skippers, the little insects that walked on water that Ahsoka had jumped fearlessly into puddles and canals to catch back on Shili. She heard the sound of drops dripping down and hitting the surface of the water. Perhaps they were the cause of the ripples.

There was a rock on the other side of the water. And she had to reach it. She just needed to reach it.

_“Waters that are still are often very deep and have strong currents and eddies right under the surface. And sometimes they even have dangerous creatures hiding under the surface”, the woman told her, her warm brown eyes sparkling with mischief, “Don’t get pulled in.”_

Going back was not an option.

So she closed her eyes and listened. It was silent around her, but sound of drops hitting the surface of the water was enough for her. The soft sound echoed off every surface in the room. And the picture built itself in her mind.

There were steps she had to follow, stones she needed to step on, a path she shouldn’t wander away from.

She took in a deep breath and put her foot forward.

*****

It had always been a joy to listen in on gossips circling around his species. All younglings, from the masters to the initiates, would try so hard, speculate and come up with such outrageous answers that it was hard for him to stifle his giggles.

His race did not assign themselves a name, for they were alive and a part of the Force. To them, all beings were just fragments of the whole, there was no need for names that differentiated between them, just enough names for communication.

What most did not know was that every member of his race was Force sensitive. But only a few left and joined the Jedi when the path laid out for them asked them to.

Yoda had always known that his path was here, among the younglings of the galaxy, guiding and nurturing them all. Perhaps that was why he opened the door to the Chamber of Trials.

*****

The water rippled with each step she took. On these stones they were only shallow enough to cover her toes. The water was so cool that it tickled her.

However, there was one thing she knew. She shouldn’t step off the path, she shouldn’t look in the water and, most importantly, she shouldn’t **go in**.

Step by painstaking step, she pushed forward slowly, trusting her senses to find the next stone. But the shore behind her did not seem to get any further and the rock ahead of her did not seem to get any closer.

There was no sound around here. The shadows did not dance. Everything was quiet and still.

Then something rippled in the water to her right. A dark shape slithered just underneath the surface.

Against her better judgement, Ahsoka turned to look at it. The shape flitted away. Squinting she leaned a little to take a little look. The image that looked back wasn’t of her, but of a man much older than her. It startled her so badly, that she jumped. That movement caused her to slip from the stone and fall in.

*****

The ripple in the Force was strong.

He frowned as he looked at his report again. There was something just on the edge of his senses. Something saying that he was wrong and that he would not succeed.

He pushed that thought aside with a scoff.

He had successfully infused the midi-chlorians to the Human’s blood. The Togruta, Zabrak and Kessurian species seemed to react better and gain the required sensitivity, but the samples died within two weeks.

The other samples lived longer, but their abilities developed only to awareness and nothing more.

He snarled and threw his datapad against the wall. Looks like he will need to get rid of the samples again, no matter how ripe they all were.

Young specimens, ones that had developed complete motor and cognitive functions were less than ideal. It was a trade-off. They didn’t always adapt to genetic alterations, sometimes expiring as soon as the alterations were introduced. However, when they did adapt, they expressed all those alterations almost immediately after the acclimation period. That was why he needed such a large sample set.

To make matters worse, he hadn’t received the new batch. Apparently the shipment had been intercepted by the Coruscant Security Force with help from the Jedi, who were now taking over investigations.

Now, he had no choice but to abandon his original research and use infants. This meant he had to wait for years for the results to express themselves.

He growled wordlessly under his breath.

That sanctimonious Order would pay for every little setback!

*****

It wasn’t a holo. The image in front of her was clear.

It looked like a reflection, like she was in the body of a Human man barely in his twenties and was standing in front of a full body mirror.

But it wasn’t a reflection.

“It’s been a while”, he said in a voice that sounded like _home_ and _clan_ , “You’re so tiny. You kept growing so tall that I forgot how small you were the first time I saw you.”

“I—I—“ she didn’t know what to say to him, this man who she knew but didn’t.

“It’s ok, I understand”, he said and held out a gloved hand, “I understand why you did what you did. But you don’t have to worry anymore.”

He then smiled at her, blue eyes twinkling with a fondness that made her heart ache. “I’m asking you to come back with me, Ahsoka.”

She looked at him, this man who made her heart ache and her throat burn. He was big, and had golden brown hair and eyes that reminded her of endless skies. And he smiled with such longing and sorrow…

She wanted to say “Yes” and reach out and hold his hand. She wanted to so much, but instead she closed her eyes. There was something she had to remember.

And she did.

She remembered that trust was hard to earn. She remembered a life where a man had come for her, all smiles and serenity, but with a darkness clinging to him. She had been right to not trust him. But she had been right to trust Master Plo and then Obi. She also remembered a life where there had been a man she trusted above all else because he had always been there for her when she needed him. He had also taught her how to trust herself.

Because they were all beings of the Force, weren’t they? The Force created them and guided them. If she trusted the Force, then she will have to trust herself too.

So, she opened her eyes and spoke the words that came so naturally to her.

“I’m sorry, Master”, she replied, “But I’m not coming back.”

She saw the man’s face crumple. But then the Force reacted to her words, to her determination. It rippled around her and solidified into a current that brushed against her and only grew stronger.

Ahsoka only had time to see the proud but sad smile on his face before the current grew strong enough to rip her away from him and carry her up, up and away.

She burst above the surface of the water with a loud gasp and struggled to swim to the shore. Her clothes clung to her skin and she felt incredibly cold as she crawled onto the shore. Coughs racked through her with enough force to rattle her bones. Her entire body ached. But she closed her eyes and focused on breathing.

Once she had her breathing in control, she raised her head and looked up. She found that she was kneeling in front of the rock she had intended to reach. And when she looked back, she found that she was very far from the path she was supposed to take.

A strange feeling settled inside of her.

She had been told to take the path in front of her and not look anywhere else…

But she felt that she reached the shore here **because** she chose to look into the water to learn more about what she had seen.

It would be many years before she understood the significance of the trial she had faced here.

*****

Master Yoda was standing in front of the rock.

But the rock dissolved in front of her eyes until she saw an empty room. And she was no longer wet.

“Master Yoda…?” she asked hesitantly.

“Good evening, Initiate Tano”, he replied, his face unreadable, “This room, how did you find?”

“I—“ She remembered the man with the sad but hopeful blue eyes. “I—“ she heard the melodious song and sort of understood it now. “I heard a song”, she said softly. Master Yoda’s ears twitched, but she was more focused on the melody she heard. “The Force sings to me. And it sang a song about someone who can walk across the skies.” She then listened to it very carefully. There was something in the words that she thought she understood, but not completely. “And I wanted to know more about them…”

Master Yoda looked at her for a long time and she tried not to fidget under his gaze. He was shorter than her by an inch, but at that moment he seemed like the biggest thing in the galaxy.

“Works in mysterious ways, the Force does. Guides us, nurtures us”, he lectures her, “Chamber of Trials, meant for padawans, this is, Initiate Tano. Able to pass, you should not. Many lessons to learn, you have.”

Ahsoka blinked at him. “What.”

“Open these doors, only a teacher can”, he explained as he pointed his cane at the doors, “A subtle reminder it is, that a teacher’s guidance is needed, for a padawan’s first step in a journey. But to succeed on their own, use the teachings of the master and their experience, they must.”

“Master, what are you saying?” Ahsoka asked in confusion. Sometimes, it was hard to understand Master Yoda’s weird way of speaking.

“Felt your presence, I did. In here, you are”, he said in what seemed to be astonishment, “Called me here, the Force did.”

“Uh, I guess…”

“A padawan trial, completed, you have.”

“I did?”

“Subtle, this was not”, he chuckled. Then he looked at her slyly, “my Padawan.”

“Ok…” she trailed of. A second later, realisation hit. “Wait, what?”

“Funny, the Force believes it is”, Master Yoda chuckled again.

“Padawan?” Ahsoka squeaked wide eyed.

“Become my Padawan, you should. Strong-armed us, the Force has”, the old master continued mildly, “Accept me as a master, do you?”

Ahsoka opened here mouth, ready to answer a “yes”. But closed it.

Trust was hard.

She opened her mouth, wanting to ask for more time to think.

_He looked old and worn, they all did. But he looked at her with eager, hopeful green eyes._

_“Not as a Jedi”, he said. It wasn’t a question, but a statement, a fact. And his expression stilled with resignation._

_The structure was crumbling around them. They needed to leave. But something made her stop and turn back for just a quick moment._

_He was there, small and hopeful, but also very hesitant. He waved at her. And all she could do was nod and smile._

Time was precious, both as an event and as an experience.

_“In my book, experience outranks everything.”_

And Master Yoda had a lot of experience.

“Only if you accept me as your Padawan, Master” she said and bowed deep. Her voice cracked, but something settled itself like a screw fitting on right.

Somewhere, far above her, she heard a bird cry.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am only able to update these chapters so quickly cause I'm practicing self-quarantine and have a lot of free time. I'm not sure how I'll be able to keep up once everything returns to normal. Which is probably the case from this month.
> 
> Meanwhile, I'm also wondering if people understood the depth of Ahsoka's experiences so far and all the symbolism I tried to stuff in... But that is completely up to the readers, I suppose (That's the fun in creative writing).


	7. Follow the call

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: Mentions of violence and gore

**Four years ago…**

Plo Koon stood before the Council, his master was seated in one of the seats before him. The youngling in his arm looked around her with wide blue eyes that were unflinching, soaking up every little detail of the new world she found herself in. She held a box in her hands close to her chest.

She was a little old for a foundling, a child who had already seen the world around her and learnt to understand it. But she shone brilliantly, like a mid-day sun.

Yoda gently prodded her in the Force. Immediately her mind shuttered and closed. Her gaze then snapped to him and her body went still and silent. She regarded him with the sharp eyes of a predator assessing either danger or prey.

It made Yoda’s old heart skip a beat. Shielding oneself was something younglings struggled with and took years to master. But this one had already developed a rudimentary version of it at such a young age.

It was then that he saw the Force converge on her in an eddy and there was a gentle prod back.

Yoda’s ears perked up and when he looked closely, he saw a mischievous glint in her eyes, one younglings usually had before they started a play fight.

He sensed a wildness in her, a fierceness and independence that had marked the Great Ones. He could already predict that when this little one grew a bit more a lot of the masters would lose their hair or develop wrinkles.

Most likely both.

She was either going to be a boon or a handful.

Most likely both.

“Found an apprentice, have you?” Master Tyvokka asked in Shyriiwook, his voice radiating obvious fondness.

“Perhaps”, Plo hummed, “She belongs with us.”

The statement rang true in Yoda’s heart. The Force hummed in reply, in approval.

Master Tyvokka’s fur suddenly ruffled even when there could be no wind In the Council Chamber. He went very, very stiff.

Everyone’s eyes snapped to the obvious source of the thrum in the Force. They looked at the youngling who had her right hand extended out. The Force sang and trilled around her. She blinked at them innocently for all of five seconds before she let out a string of soft giggles.

Master Tyvokka let out an amused huff. “Cheeky little ‘un”, he nodded.

The fact that the Force seemed to favour her so readily had won them all over in that instant. There was no need for the preliminary test.

“A good Jedi, she will make”, Yoda replied with a smile.

That was when he sensed the laughter in the air, like the Universe itself was poking mild fun at them, like it was in on a joke they couldn’t know but for some reason should.

*****

It was a slow day. The temple was peaceful, Masters and Knights were milling about in the corridors, the initiates were attending their classes and Obi-Wan was heading to the archive when his sleeve was snagged all of a sudden and the momentum of his brisk walk had him falling flat on his back.

What the…, he began to think with feeling as he blinked up at the ceiling.

That was when a horned head with wide-blue eyes came into view.

“Ahsoka!” he whisper-yelled as he shot up straight into a sitting position, “I am not accompanying you to another dress-fitting session! Find Bant!”

Ever since she became a padawan, Ahsoka had taken the chance to abuse the padawan privilege to represent herself in any way she deemed fit. That meant she shed the trailing, bulky, multi-layered Jedi wraparound robes the first chance she got.

She now wore a soft grey tunic that had a high neck, no sleeves and reached down to her upper thighs. It was made from spun upanga-hemp fibre from Shili. This was paired churi – traditional leggings of her homeland made with a cross-weave that made the laini-cotton fabric sturdier than a normal weave. Other accessories included her black leather belt, a soft grey pouch attached to the belt, pale grey knee-high Corellian leather boots and fingerless moleskin gloves that reached upto her elbows.

Obi-Wan knew all this because he had been dragged by her to her dress-fitting sessions (against his will, despite his protests and with him offering a copious amount of literal kicking and screaming). The result had been him red in the face and unable to look in his friend’s direction, Quinlan’s non-stop teasing (which he should stop since he was far older than them and so should set an example), Bant’s non-stop elbowing of Quinlan in the ribs and Ahsoka finally in clothes that didn’t make her overheat (and complain).

He was snapped out of his dazed thoughts by a curious whine.

And that was when he saw a creature in her arms. It was a quadruped that looked very young. It had a small snout that ended in a large nose. It also had a slight hunched back and a row of spines growing from it. It had no fur, instead it had a thick and tough hide that settled in folds similar to plates of armor. Its hind legs had raised heels that ended in sharp, rear-facing claws. All four of its paws were heavily padded and had three retractable claws each. It blinked up at him with large glassy, twinkling black eyes as its wet tongue flopped out of its open mouth.

Before he could even open his mouth, Ahsoka interrupted him.

“This is a massiff pup. He’s lost. Help me get him home”, she commanded.

“What? No!”

*****

The skylanes of Coruscant were as busy as usual.

There were people crowding the walkways as usual.

The construction crew worked on the new walkway as usual.

The temple artisans yelled at the crew about not damaging the statues at the entrance as usual.

Ahsoka bounced down the stairs at the entrance as usual.

Obi-Wan could not refuse any of her commands of following her into mischief as usual.

And nobody noticed as usual.

The young initiate was left to despair at the fact that even when his quirky friend had graduated to Padawan and got herself an equally quirky Master who could easily outwit her and keep her in line, nothing seemed to have changed.

He also marveled at the fact that none of adults around seemed to notice that two younglings were walking into the dangerous outside world by themselves, without supervision. Perhaps they thought the little massiff was enough supervision?

“Did you really tell Master Yoda that you wanted to return the puppy to his owner?” Obi-Wan asked just to be sure.

“Yes, I informed Master Yoda”, Ahsoka beamed.

“Then why do I have a bad feeling about this?”

*****

There was a piece of flimsi on his desk.

He had just gone out to take a small break and get a cup of tea. Being the Grandmaster of the Jedi Order meant that he had to deal with a lot of flimsiwork (which he often skipped and/or delegated). And it was the kind of work that could kill your brain a hundred times over.

He was nine hundred years old, his brain had died enough times already!

When he had returned from his break, he had found an odd piece of flimsi lying conspicuously on his stack of datapads and flimsi files.

Curious, he hopped onto his chair and picked it up. There was a message scribbled in clear, but horrendous Aurebesh. It read:

_Dear Master Yoda,_

_I found a massiff puppy that was lost and scared and decided to return him to his owner. I know you will be worried, but don’t worry! I’ve taken Obi-Wan with me. And I’m also informing you in advance so you can come rescue me ~~when~~ if I get in trouble._

_Don’t worry, I won’t speak to strangers. And if I find any strange men or women, I’ll call you immediately!_

_Yours sincerely,_

_Ahsoka Tano_

Yoda blinked at the flimsi, sat back on his comfy chair, looked at the flimsi again and placed it carefully to the side. He then looked up and stared blankly at the space before him. His ears suddenly drooped and then he brought his forehead down on the table with a loud _thunk_.

He had come to the horrific realisation that this would mark his padawan’s entire apprenticeship with him.

*****

“Do you even know where we are going?”

At some point, the signs started looking the same. The walkways seemed no different from the rest of the so many walkways they walked on. People still kept bumping into them because they were not quite big enough to not get underfoot…

“Nope.”

And Ahsoka did not know where they were going.

“Then why are we going this way?”

She was still carrying the puppy in her arms even if she was showing signs of tiring. It was half her size and definitely more than half her weight. Obi-Wan wordlessly snatched the pup from her arms and nearly keeled over.

Definitely more than half her weight.

“We’re following the Force!”

The puppy twisted about to look at the new creature carrying him.

“The Force is leading you?” a raised eyebrow.

The effect was ruined when a floppy tongue licked him right up the face from his chin to his forehead leaving a trail of sticky drool in its wake.

“Yup.”

She completely ignored the fact that he was wiping his face with his sleeve to pull him into a crowded turbolift.

The ride down in the turbolift was… interesting. His stomach seemed to come up to his neck when the lift started and seemed to drop back when it stopped. And they went through several stops like that.

A few minutes later, when the lift seemed to come to a stop for the thirteenth or so time, Ahsoka pulled him and the pup out of the lift.

“This way”, she said as she pulled him down yet another pathway.

******

The place looked like a dump.

And that was being polite, Obi-Wan thought.

The roll up door they were looking at was part of a cluster of buildings built around the massive support pillars on the 1001 level. The only space around it was the four-foot wide walkway they were standing on. It had a collage of graffiti in various styles painted on it, probably in colours not perceived by Human eyes. There was also trash lying all around it.

He could also smell quite a few unsavoury scents. And he belonged to a species that had the weakest olfactory sense in the galaxy, so there could be some things that he really wasn’t smelling.

He supposed that it really was nondescript. But that was only because everything here was equally dilapidated.

The

“Let’s just get this over with”, he said and moved to ring the bell.

But Ahsoka caught his wrist in a vice-like grip and pulled him back. “Don’t”, she said quietly and looked at him pleadingly with wide blue eyes. She sounded scared to.

It was then that he noticed that the massiff puppy in his arms had gone still and silent, only its trembling body letting it know that it was scared of something here.

“Ahsoka, what’s going on?” he asked softly.

Ahsoka was a very instinctive and intuitive person. How she reacted was often a clue to the depth of any event around her. Every Master and Knight and most of the Padawans and Initates knew this ever since the incident that led to the discovery of a sentient-trafficking ring.

And this wasn’t just fear or hesitance. This was something more primal.

The feeling of uneasiness he had had from before only grew more intense.

*****

The ventilation systems in the buildings in the lower levels needed to be large to ensure proper circulation of air. However, the ducts were still a tight fit for Obi-Wan as he struggled to push himself forward. Unlike Ahsoka who could crawl forward on elbows and knees, he had to lie down and push himself forward on his belly. And considering that the ducts hadn’t been cleaned in a long time (probably never) he can only imagine the state of his pristine white robes…

He came to a stop when the top of his head bumped into Ahsoka’s behind.

“Ahsoka, what…?”

She shushed him before he could speak further. He tried peering over her to see why she had stopped. She noticed and moved a little further ahead before turning around with a struggle to reveal that she had stopped over an open vent. And she was peering down it very intently in a way that told him that she was listening to something he couldn’t hear.

Even the puppy, who had been ahead of them in the ducts, nosed his way in under her arms and crouched down in silence.

It took a few minutes but Obi-Wan began to hear the footsteps and voices of the people who were approaching.

“… around two thousand and seventy three called in tonight”, one of the voices, that of a woman, said. She came into view along with a well-built Togrutan male. Obi-Wan ticked off a few things on her datapad with her stylus before looking up at the sanguine coloured male. “But we could only send out around a thousand invitations. High-end only. The people are expecting a grand show tonight.”

“And they will get it”, he replied in a deeply accented voice. “Let me show you the beasts we have…”

They then moved on to another room.

Ahsoka squirmed around to turn around and Obi-Wan moved to follow her now that his curiosity was piqued. The cacophony that had probably led the young Togruta here was now loud and clear to the Human. When they reached another vent, Ahsoka moved over so they both could look down.

What they saw was a dimly lit room filled with cages, each housing several animals ranging from rib-cats to giant massiffs. Most of the animals looked rabid and were adorned with several scars and calluses. They were hissing, snarling and growling at the two sentients that had just entered the room.

“We have a few new entries”, the Togruatan male said as he pointed to a few cages at the far corner, “Each trained to be as savage as can be.”

He then moved to a larger cage where there was a massiff that easily towered over all the rest in the room. “And, of course, our champion who will tear them all apart”, he them moved to one of the other cages where there were a group of Tooka kittens who were snarling and hissing in fright. He picked one cream furred kitten by the ear. “Of course, the contestants will provide enough of a fight to even out the bets, people love rooting for the underdogs. But it will be our beast that will be sure to win.”

He then callously threw the kitten into the cage with the huge massiff. The kitten only had a moment to snarl at the beast before it found itself on the business end of gigantic jaws that clamped down on the small body with a sickening crunch. It let out a pained squeal as the beast growled and snarled. The massive shook the tiny body viciously, ripping it apart in a matter of seconds. Muscle, bone and sinew went flying everywhere.

The sheer savagery on display made something rise in Obi-Wan’s stomach. Before he could stop himself, he let out a gasp, realising only a second later that Ahsoka had reacted much the same way.

Unfortunately for them, Togrutan hearing being what it was, the man heard them. “Who’s there?” he snarled glaring up at the ceiling.

The two younglings only looked at each other for a second before Obi-Wan tried scuttling backwards. Ahsoka pulled the whining puppy to her chest and followed. They tried to move as fast as they could, abandoning stealth and silence they had utilised so far for speed.

They had only made it three meters or so before the duct gave way underneath them and they fell to the floor.

“You have rats”, the Human woman sniffed disdainfully, flicking her long brown hair behind her. She would have been a beautiful woman, Obi-Wan thought, with a slender, petite figure and rich, cream-coloured skin, if it weren’t for her venomous hazel eyes.

“That I do”, the Togruta replied. He was tall, with small white dots on his forehead and cheeks. His Montrals curved inward and his lekku had thick dark green stripes. He reached to them.

Ahsoka reacted by snarling and biting his outstretched hand. The man yelped and quickly took hold of the young girl’s collar. He then threw her against the far wall where she hit it with a gasp and fell down unconscious.

Obi-Wan moved to reach his friend, when he felt something hit the back of his head. The world turned black before he even hit the floor.

*****

_There was caution in his eyes. Not fear, never fear._

_He looked at her like she was a beast, small and scared, that needed comfort, like a quick movement can startle her into a frenzy. He tried to call out to her, telling her to stop. He kept telling her that he did not understand what was going on, but that they could figure it out together._

_Foolish man! Did he not understand that he would have fallen into an abyss for nothing? He still believed the monster’s words that she had fallen into the same abyss._

_The monster knew nothing!_

_She had ascended!_

Ahsoka woke up with a gasp. There was a phantom heaviness in her back, her jaws and her throat, like there were parts of her that were missing.

_Great wings on her back, fangs in his smile, a balance sought and lost…_

When she found her bearings, she realised that she was in a cage just like all the other animals that were no growling and hissing at her. She felt Obi-Wan at her side and turned to find him still unconscious.

With tears in her eyes, she pulled him closer to her until his head was resting on her lap. She curled her body around him to protect him as best as she could.

_Please never come back for me._

“I’m sorry”, she cried, “I’m sorry.”

_Please never… love me again…_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Obi-Wan will soon learn that he should ask questions that are a little more specific and that he should have asked if Ahsoka got a reply after she had asked for permission. He will also learn that it was a question he should ask as diligently often as possible and pay careful attention to the answer he received. In addition, he will also learn that if he had a bad feeling about anything then it was really, REALLY bad and he should just turn around and run until that bad feeling goes away. These are hard lessons to learn, but the lessons that stick are the lessons learnt from mistakes.
> 
> Note: My interpretation of the Force is based on the Hindu concept of Brahman and the Shinto concept of Amenominakanushi. That said, Force Visions and Force-bonds will be derivatives of this interpretation.
> 
> Also note: Ahsoka "I'm no Jedi" Tano


	8. Blood sport

The pain that lances through him is as horrifying as it is clear.

“Padawan”, he whispers under his breath.

She was in pain and in danger. He had to reach her.

He had thought that he had been chosen to help her stabilise her powers. He had thought that what she had needed was an anchor as she understood the world around her.

He was such a fool. He had known the call was strong with her, but he had forgotten that she was a child still. She was too young to know that sometimes she had to stop and just think. She was too young to understand that it wasn’t just her facing the world by herself. What she had really needed was a hand that both guided and restrained.

The Force had called her and she had answered.

But she had answered it alone.

*****

Obi stirred under her hands and she let out a sigh of relief. The animals had quieted down a little after she had sent out waves of reassurance to them through the Force. They may not have understood it, but they felt it.

“Obi?” she asked.

There was a bump on his head that had worried her. But if he was waking up, then maybe it wasn’t that bad. If only she had learnt first aid in her classes...

She was going to talk to Master Yoda to get them included in her curriculum.

The thought of Master Yoda sent a pang through her chest.

What would he think of her now? A padawan who thought she knew everything about the world?

What was worse was that Obi was now stuck with her. She had put him in danger as well.

 _“Master, please! We’re here! The 1001 st Level, district D12”, _she tried to force through the bond they shared, _“Please, Master, I’m sorry.”_

“A’soka”, Obi slurred as he slowly opened his eyes, “Wha’ happen…”

Ahsoka gently shushed him. “It’s ok, Obi. It’s ok. Just sleep if you need to”, she said as quietly as possible, pleading with the Force to envelope, “I’m right here…”

Obi blinked at her with his grey-blue eyes. “’M’kay”, he said and closed his eyes and fell asleep.

_“Please, Master.”_

*****

When Obi-Wan woke up, he saw that he was in a dark room, in a cage, surrounded by animals that reeked of despair. Then he felt the fingers carding through his hair.

He looked up and focused on the downcast face of his friend.

“Ahsoka?” he asked quietly.

“This a profitable business”, she spat the words like they were the most disgusting thing she had heard, “I heard them. The fights are going to start in about an hour. Every animal here was either bred to fight or to be bait.”

Obi-Wan scrambled to sit up and she let him go. But she didn’t raise her head.

“There are going to be a lot of people watching”, she said softly, “Rich business men, Senators, even Royalty have been invited to this event. The entrance tickets are high and the bets are going to be higher.”

She seemed to curl further into herself by bringing her knees up to her chest.

“I thought that if we find the location and tell someone that we could stop it”, she sniffed and used her forearm to wipe at her nose, “I thought we could just sneak in and then get out.”

She almost turned away from him, crossing her arms over her knees and hiding her face behind them.

“Instead I got you hurt. And now we’ll both be bait.”

It didn’t look right to see Ahsoka give up. She was always so optimistic, always so cheerful, always so bright that at times it was blinding.

“Hey, now. Don’t say that”, he tried telling her, “We’ll find a way out of here. You know how to open the lock, right?”

That was when she looked up at him with teary blue eyes. But she didn’t seem to be seeing him, she seemed to be seeing something completely different.

“They welded it shut after I unlocked it the first time.”

It occurred to Obi-Wan that even though his friend was chosen as a Padawan now, nothing had really changed. She still attended regular classes with her age mates, she still took lessons from various Masters and she just spent the time designated to her with Master Yoda, nothing more.

Obi-Wan had heard about Master-Padawan pairs, about how much time they all spent together, how the Master worked hard to help the Padawan hone their skills and knowledge. Yet, he had not really seen Ahsoka and Master Yoda together at all.

It made him wonder if this was why she was here with him rather than with her Master.

“Master Yoda will come for us”, he blurted out, “He’s your Master now. He will know when you are in trouble.”

Ahsoka didn’t reply, instead choosing to gaze at the far wall of the room.

The silence between them was comforting. He realised that Ahsoka was projecting reassurance in the Force not just to him but to every creature in the room with them. Where there had been fear, anger and despair, all he could feel now was calm. He couldn’t think of anything else to do or say, so he decided to do the same.

He closed his eyes, focused on his breathing. Once that steadied, he moved to the breathing of every other living being in this room. He sensed every breath around him, every heartbeat, and every single presence in the Force. And he joined his friend in providing peace and calm.

*****

The brutes didn’t even let them talk as they carted the cages into storage containers. They kept banging on the bars and jeering at them.

Obi-Wan made sure to keep Ahsoka close to him and as away from the bars as possible. He remembered from his lessons how Togrutas and Twi’leks, especially the females, were considered exotic and naturally majestic by humanoid standards. These two races were some of the most sought after by slave traders.

He wouldn’t let his friend fall prey if he could help it.

Their cage was placed in a container with other caged ‘docile’ animals like tooka kittens, young convors, rib cats, nunas and gizkas. They then closed the doors to the containers bathing them in darkness with only a few holes along the sides letting a little air and light in.

“Obi?” Ahsoka asked as she curled tighter against him. Around them the animals let out soft whines and warbles.

“I’m right here”, he replied as he gently squeezed her hand.

*****

Ahsoka did not pay attention to what was happening in the stadium around her for she was trying to center herself.

She knew that there was a crowd there that was jeering, leering and cheering. They even threw trash in their hands into the ring She knew that they were shouting out some unsavoury things and placing bets on their lives. She saw the dancing girls in the pit where the animals would soon fight. She also saw the Togrutan male, dressed to the nines, prepare himself to deliver a grand speech.

Ahsoka didn’t pay attention to the greetings and speech he offered them. She didn’t pay attention to his grand gestures either. She should have.

Because suddenly the cage had been cut and Obi was pulled from the cage and thrown into the fighting pit.

“Obi”, she called as she tried to reach for him only to be pulled back by her back lek. One of her handlers, a Human male, threw her back into her cage while spitting angry curses.

Obi stood silent and still in the pit, small and alone, facing a heavily bolted door. The crowd around him was shouting and screaming at him. The Togruta man suddenly pulled a lever and the bolts felt open.

The doors burst apart and out came the gigantic massiff, spitting and snarling with fury. The crowd cheered even louder.

It ran along the perimeter of the bit was growling and snarling at all, trying to climb up the wall and scratch and bite the creatures near the bars of the cage. It completed two full rounds around the cage before it realised that there was no way out. It then slowly turned to the only other thing it sensed in the cage with it.

The crowd went silent in anticipation of the carnage to come with only a few whispers and mumbles going about.

Obi stiffened as the massive beast approached him slowly, snarling and growling all the time. Ahsoka saw him take a deep breath before he closed his eyes and reached out with his left hand.

 _He’s using the Force_ , she realised.

“It’s ok, it’s ok”, she heard him whisper. And she saw the beast slowly calm down.

“What is he doing?” someone in the crows asked.

“What’s happening?”

She watched in awe as the beast turned as calm as anyone’s pet. “I’m not one of them”, Obi whispered. The massiff’s breathing started to even out and this time Obi was the one to approach him. He got close enough to touch his snout.

The crowd watched in awe as the small Human boy tamed the beast.

However, that was not what they wanted.

The Togruta male in charge of the ring suddenly roared and banged at the cage to the pit.

This startled the massiff badly.

He suddenly barked and snapped at Obi’s hand. The boy pulled his back hand and started running away as the beast reared back on its hind legs ready to pounce on him.

Obi rolled under the beast, got to his feet and ran to the end of the fifty meter wide pit. The beast followed after him. He suddenly twisted to the right and the beast overcompensated, slamming into the wall. But it got to its feet quickly and followed him again.

Ahsoka took this chance to kick her handler in the groin. She then used the Force to unlock the gate to the fighting pit the way she had trained herself to. Pushing the doors open, she ran into the cage.

“Obi!” she called, “Here!”

He saw her and turned to run toward the open cage, but the massiff pounced. He had no choice but to duck and let the massiff go sailing above him. However, this time, the massiff turned around as soon as it landed and was ready to pounce on him again.

Ahsoka saw some of the trash in the ring near her feet. She took one of the cans lying around and chucked it at the beast’s face.

The beast startled as the can hit its snout. It turned to the new intruder and snarled before giving chase again.

 _Good_ , Ahsoka thought, _it would be easier to out-maneuver it between two of us._

Obi must have understood what she did because he moved closer to the still open gate even as he threw a pebble on the massiff’s flank.

The massiff changed direction to attack him now, giving Ahsoka time to circle around it and use the Force to push to the far end of the pit.

Both younglings made to run toward the gate. However, just when they reached it, one of the men outside threw a piece of metal at Ahsoka. It caused her to stumble and fall as it connected with her forehead. Obi, who had been two steps behind her, tripped over her.

The beast got to its feet and shook itself. Once it reoriented, it’s eyes narrowed on the two crouched younglings.

With a terrifying roar it came bounding toward them, ready to tear them apart.

Obi pushed her behind him and spread his arms out in an attempt to cover her smaller frame. Ahsoka moved to pull at him.

The beast pounced, jaws wide open.

Both children closed their eyes, waiting for the end to come.

A few seconds passed.

The finishing blow never came.

They opened their eyes to see the beast suspended in midair. They felt the ripple in the Force around them and then the beast was slammed into the far wall and held there.

“Halt”, several voices reverberated at once.

Ahsoka and Obi-Wan looked up to see Master Yoda standing at the very end of the stadium with his arm stretched out. Surrounding the entire stadium were several members of the Coruscant Security Force and Jedi Order.

Chaos erupted outside the fighting pit. Several members present in the stadium pulled out blasters. Most did not even have the chance to fire the blaster as the Security Force stunned them with ruthless efficiency. A few lucky ones were only able to fire one or two shots that were easily deflected by the Jedi that were with them.

It had been a textbook perfect ambush.

Master Yoda slowly hobbled down the stairs leading to the pit. The beast was slowly levitated into the chamber from where it had first burst out. The moment the creature was deposited on the ground, the doors slammed shut and the bolts slid into place.

Master Yoda continued hobbling toward the pit even as the Police men and droids clashed with the people in the ring and subdued them.

“Alright are you, younglings?” he asked casually.

“Master Yoda”, Ahsoka cried in relief.

*****

“Reckless you were”, Master Yoda chided as soon as they were in a room by themselves, “Endangered you did, not only your life but that of Obi-Wan too. What to say, have you?” He was sitting on his the mat radiating sheer disappointment.

Ahsoka kneeled before him with a bowed head and hands clasped in her lap. “I’m sorry, Master Yoda”, she whispered softly, “I’m really sorry.”

They both stayed silent for a few minutes before Master Yoda sighed.

“Failure of the Master, failure of the Padawan is”, he finally said.

Ahsoka slowly looked up at him in disbelief. “Master?”

“Neglected your training, I did. Too young, I thought you were, but my Padawan, you are”, he continued, “Your burden, shared it must be between us.”

“I know that now, Master”, she replied softly. The Padawan braid laid heavily against her right lek, she could count each of the round beads in the string and feel the shape of the hourglass shaped tassel at the end. It made her feel even guiltier.

“Strong the Call is for you, young one”, her Master said, “Neglect it, we must not.”

“Ok.”

“Good”, he hummed, “Now, report to kitchen duty, you must, for the next two weeks.”

Ahsoka bit back a groan. This she deserved.

*****

“This is a mess”, Inspector Reynard concluded with resignation, “Three Royals and eight senators, along with twenty-eight high-society figures. We’ll be lucky to even book half of them.”

Master Sinube sighed as he looked at everything reported. “In addition to unlicensed gambling, money laundering and smuggling of animals, the ring directly kidnapped and endangered two younglings of the Jedi Order. I have a feeling that luck is on your side this time. You will be able to make significant arrests soon, even though it will lead to more work for you.”

“Work is not the issue”, the Inspector replied, “I really wish you Jedi would get more involved in our cases. Your kid just helped me get enough leads for three different trafficking rings.”

Master Sinube chuckled. “That she did.”

*****

“Hey, Obi”, she called out to him softly. He had stayed behind to help her peel the yuca tubers even though his punishment hour had ended. He only had about an hour of kitchen duty every day for a week.

He hummed in acknowledgement.

“I’m sorry for dragging you into that mess”, she said, trying her best to project as much sincerity as she could into her voice.

“It’s alright”, he shrugged at her without even looking at her, “We’re friends, so we’re stuck with each other.”

His words made her smile.

“Besides, someone needs to make sure you survive.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, I am not really happy with this two-chapter arc. It was intended to be a wake-up call for both Ahsoka and Yoda. Not sure how well that came across.
> 
> Anywho, I can't believe just how creative Lucas can get. I'm mean, he is a poor story-teller, but his worlds and concepts are well-realised...
> 
> Since my area is still in a partial lockdown, I literally have no other work...


	9. His Master’s new Padawan

The astromech droid beeped indignantly from behind the crouched little Togruta who was winding tape around what seemed to a pipe hanging out of a speeder.

“Look, taping it works just fine”, the unfazed girl replied, “This duratape is the heat resistant variety. It’ll be able to handle the heat of the exhaust.”

The droid kept beeping and even started rocking frantically from side to side.

“We can’t exactly weld this section closed. It’ll reduce the gauge and compromise the integrity of the entire exhaust pipe”, she stated like it was the most obivious fact anyone would know.

The droid began beeping and chirping again, its disc shaped antenna whirring frantically.

“Look, I would have replaced the entire pipe if I could, but we’ve run out of 3/4 pipe length. If you want I can make do by attaching with a 1/2, but we both know that for a speeder with this particular exhaust flow capacity that will be a very bad idea and the tape is definitely the better idea.”, she said impatiently.

At that, the droid beeped in resignation.

“Glad we could come to an agreement”, she said sagely, “Hey, what’s your unit designation anyway?”

The droid let out a series of short beeps.

“Huh”, she replied, her eyes growing distant as she sank into some deep thought, “That designation sounds familiar. I know! I’ll call you Cheep!”

Dooku just watched her continue with her work for another minute or so before walking away to resume his.

*****

Ahsoka got into the start position, brought up her left wrist, clicked her chrono timer and shot off like a blaster bolt down the corridor. She was sure she heard her Master chuckling behind her. She had often wondered if her little race had bothered him like some of the Jedi claimed, but he hadn’t said anything yet.

With the five datapads placed securely in her backpack, she took a sharp right and sprinted straight for the maintenance stairs. A mouse droid squeaked indignantly when she burst through the swinging doors and galloped down the stairs.

“Sorry!” she called back but couldn’t stop her giggling.

To skip some of landings (and to reduce time), she happily slid down the railings until she reached the bottom of the stairwell. Then she burst through the swinging doors there. She thought the door hit something, but then she just shook it off and continued her sprint down the corridor. (When poor Padawan Fisto would visit the healers for his swollen nose, they would just sigh and warn him to stay away from stairwell doors.)

Her first and nearest stop was Master Windu’s, newly appointed High Council Master.

Mid-run she swung her backpack in front. She pulled out the datapad as she skid to a halt in front of the Master’s quarters. However, she didn’t even have to ring the bell. The door slid open and Ahsoka thrust the datapad into Master Windu’s hand, completely oblivious to the fact that he had nearly jumped a meter in the air and that he had just begun to twist his face into a scowl. “Master Yoda says he expects the report by tomorrow”, she yelled, “Have a good day, Master Windu.”

Ahsoka didn’t even notice that the Master was about to tell her something before she was down the corridor and twisting left.

“Sorry, Master Mundi!” she yelled back as the Cerean Master jumped out of the way.

Her next stop was further in the temple, in the Halls of Healing. She had made it to the hallway leading to the Halls just as Master Che walked out with a large cup of piping hot caf in her hand. The healer didn’t even look up as Ahsoka came sprinting toward her, merely held out her hand so the young Togruta could deliver the datapad and be on her way.

Master Che’s delivery was always the best. The Twi’lek Jedi barely wasted any time with greetings or words. This ensured Ahsoka made good time.

Ahsoka then ran up the stairs and to one of the upper levels where ecology classes were held. Her next delivery was for Master Erie, but she would be with the Dragon Clan at this time of the day. So, Ahsoka just flitted into the class, placed the datapad on the table and fluttered out to her next destination.

Master Plo was busy waxing his speeder when Ahsoka made her way to the hanger. “Koh-to-yah, Master Plo!” she yelled.

The Kel Dor Jedi dropped the rag he was holding, which incidentally left his hand free for the datapad Ahsoka thrust into it.

“Little ‘Soka…” he began.

“Have a great day, Master Koon. Bye, Cheep!” she wished him and the astromech droid with him cheerily as she ran out of the hangar. The Kel Dor’s shoulders slumped even as the droid beside him chirped back in farewell.

Her last delivery would require a lot more tact. So she slowed down to a walk and got her breathing under control as she approached the hallway. She slung her backpack onto her shoulder again once she had the datapad in her hand. When she was before the door, she took in a deep breath. And her finger reached out to press the button for the bell.

The door slid open almost immediately.

“Good afternoon, Master Dooku”, she greeted the man at the door.

“Good afternoon, Padawan”, he replied in that stern tone he was known for.

“Master Yoda asked me to provide you the report on the Senate’s New Bill, the one about additional incomes to Senators…”

“Ah, yes”, he took the datapad offered to her. However, he didn’t dismiss her. And for some reason, unlike with the other Masters she felt that she could not just dismiss herself. This meant she tried really hard and focused all her willpower into not shuffling or fidgeting while Master Dooku opened up the datapad and started reading through the report.

A part of her wondered if he was doing this deliberately because he knew she was timing these runs.

Nah! At least she didn’t think so.

After what felt like eternity, the Master finally spoke, though he didn’t even look up (or rather down) at her. “Thank you, Padawan. Have a good day.”

The door slid shut behind him without ceremony.

Ahsoka tried really hard to bite back the curse rising in her throat and succeeded. Jedi did not curse. She turned and bolted down the corridor as if a hungry gutkurr were on her heels, completely unknowing of the Jedi Master behind the door smirking at her with unholy glee.

She rounded the corner, ran up a flight of stairs, nearly pushed Padawan Quinlan off a balcony and rounded a corner, skidding to a stop before a door just as it slid open.

There was a yelp, a crash and peals of laughter.

“Ahsoka!” Obi yelled.

“And time!” she said, triumphantly stopping her chrono’s timer, “Seven minutes and fifty seconds, even with the delay at Master Dooku’s. Yes!”

“Congratulations”, Obi said dryly as he dusted off his sleeves.

Bant simply giggled at the both of them as the other Initiates made their way out of the class. “Hey, ‘Soka!”

“Hey, Bant!” she chirped back, “C’mon, I want to learn how to treat burns!” She then caught hold of Bant’s hand and pulled the young Mon Calamari behind her.

Bant looked back at Obi-Wan pleadingly, but he just smiled and waved a goodbye.

“I’ll get you for this”, Bant said with feeling.

*****

“You really shouldn’t be trying to…”

Younglings up to no good yet again.

“No one is here. What’s the worst that could happen?”

Ah, to be young and foolish again.

“A lot of things, including you breaking your neck.”

… that sounds a little dangerous…

“It’s just a front flip.”

… that is actually very dangerous.

Dooku rounded the corner just in time to see the young Togruta Padawan come running before launching into a leap and doing a near perfect flip. She would have landed perfectly if it weren’t for the oblivious mouse droid that happened to zip by just the moment her feet were approaching the ground.

One of her foot landed on the droid. The droid startled and jerked.

The Togruta lost her balance and listed forward. She yelped, closed her eyes and braced herself to meet the floor face first.

But she didn’t.

She opened her eyes to see that she was floating in midair. She had barely let out a sigh of relief before the Force let go of her and she fell face first on the floor.

“I hope you’ve learnt your lesson about using acrobatics without any spatial awareness”, Master Dooku said blandly. Ahsoka felt more than saw Bant go stiff beside her and she decided she was better off still kissing the floor. “Either stay vigilant or use the training rooms where there are no distractions. It would be a shame if you were to go down in history as the Padawan of Master Yoda who died doing a flip.”

With his piece said, Master Dooku walked away with a dramatic swish of his long robe.

Once Ahsoka was sure that his footsteps sounded far away, she let out a pitiful groan into the dirt. Bant just knelt down beside her and petted her head.

*****

“You look amused”, Qui-Gon said as way of greeting.

“A very good morning to you too, Padawan”, he greeted back.

“I’m not a Padawan anymore, Master.”

“So you say”, Dooku replied as he poured the tea out into his cup. The warmth of the kettle was comforting and the strange bifurcated knob on the lid reminded him of a certain Padawan. “Would you care for some tea?”

“No, thank you, Master”, his former Padawan replied, “I just came by to greet you before heading off to the crèche.”

“Can’t find the time to speak with your Master, is it?”

“Oh, no, nothing like that”, Qui-Gon chuckled, “Little Ahsoka told me you were busy reviewing a Senate bill, something about placing restrictions on alternative incomes for Senators as well as stating that all sources of income need to be declared to be subject to taxes?”

“A result of her foray into the animal fighting ring on Coruscant that nearly gave our old Master a stroke. The circus that followed was amusing and the Coruscant Security Force proved themselves most productive.”

“I suppose some good does come out of following the Will of the Force”, Qui-Gon snipped at him.

“If by good you mean two younglings almost getting killed and a bill that should have been passed long ago getinng passed two whole years after the incident that dredged it up, then yes, some good did come out of it.”

*****

_“I’m not even a Jedi anymore.”_

_“Tell that to the Empire.”_

_She stared at the armored silhouette that was so painfully familiar even if the armor was vastly different than what she was familiar with. She tried not to think about the voice that was cold but still too similar to the echoes comfort and camaraderie in a variety of tones and emotions. She tried not to stare at the hand that resembled the hands that held blaster in such a familiar grip or threw down sabacc cards._

_“I am not them”, he had said._

_“I know.”_

She was on one of the lower floors of the temple, the parts that younglings came down to only if their classes dictated for them to. She was actually here with her previous crèchemates, the ones she left behind when she became a Padawan and moved out of the Clawmouse Clan.

“Woah”, Zen had said as his fingers over the Mural, the cup shaped pads of his fingers taking in the fine details in the ancient stone. His star-studded Rodian took in every bit of detail he could find.

The instructor was going on about the various campaigns, describing each mural that spoke of the crusades they won.

_“There are always two sides to a story.”_

_Men who looked the same but still so different, so full of life that she could sink into their presence without ever needing to rise again._

_A woman of such brilliance and strength, who always stayed her hand no matter who challenged her._

_An endless white dessert dotted with great domes and sleek boxes…_

_A woman with fire for hair, scowling at her… reaching out her hand to…_

“The Mandalorian-Jedi War began around twenty years after the Great Sith War…”

_A young girl, so bright and colourful, beaten down by the errors of the previous generation…_

_A young man, broken by those who were supposed to protect him…_

_A grave of many, but only the ones she could find..._

“Ahsoka?” a hand on her shoulder snapped her out of her trance.

She looked at Master Nu who had crouched down in front of her with an expression of worry on her face.

It was then that she noticed that her cheeks were wet and sticky. Her hand came up to rub her face. Why had she been crying? There was also a pulsing ache behind her right eye and along the right side of her head. It as if a miniature being was sitting there and pounding on her skull with tiny daggers.

“I’m sorry, Master”, she said, “I’m not feeling well. Can I be excused?”

“Of course, my dear”, Master Nu replied, “Just meet me in the Archives when you’re feeling better. I’ll help you find the materials you need to catch up.”

With a polite bow, Ahsoka turned and made her way back to the upper floors of the temple.

*****

There was a lump of tarp under a bench in the alcove in the corridor that led to the Padawans’ wing. It was well-hidden, he supposed, that those who weren’t paying attention would not see it.

How unusual…

He reached out to try and sense it in the Force.

The lump wiggled a bit and retreated farther into the shadows whilst he felt a distinctive shield shutter down.

Sighing, he prodded a little harder.

This time there was a mile counterattack, mild enough for him to just bat away. The lump wriggled again and let out a pained moan.

Satisfied with that little reaction he received, he prodded yet again.

This time the tarp fell off to reveal an orange head with stubby horns and white geometrical markings. “Go away!” the young Togruta yelled. She then noticed who she had yelled at and blanched.

“Good afternoon, young Padawan. I am curious to know if the duracrete floor is really more comfortable than it looks”, he stated flatly, “For you see, I’m much too big of a fit.”

The colour returned to her face and lekku tenfold, turning her orange skin a deeper rufous hue and the stripes into a richer violet tone. But her eyes seemed worryingly red and her arms trembled.

“I’m sorry, Master”, she said softly, “I wasn’t feeling well and this seemed to be the only place that was quiet enough to help me sleep…”

“Well, if you are under the weather, you must know to seek the aid of a healer.”

“It’s just a headache. I’ll be fine after I get some sleep.”

Dooku disagreed quietly. Over his many years in temple, he had come across quite a few cases of Togrutan headaches. And because of their physiology and their sensitivity, the Togrutan species suffered headaches that were simply debilitating. He had seen Togrutan Masters brought to tears and being put out of commission for weeks.

He was about the reprimand the girl and carry her to the Halls of Healing if he had to when he stopped.

Every Master in the temple knew about her visions, perhaps every being in the temple too. It also reminded him of his old friend Sifo-Dyas who had suffered similar headaches after his visions.

So he crouched down to be at eye-level with her.

“Did you get another vision?”

The girl hesitated, pulling the tarp closer over her shoulders and closer to herself. She then took in what seemed to be a fortifying breath and answered. “Yes, Master. But I still can’t understand what the Force is trying to tell me. I know it’s important, but I can’t…”

The Jedi Master’s demeanour softened when she trailed of. Visions rarely made sense even to experienced Masters, including Master Yoda. There really was no use fussing over them for they would all make sense in due time. However, unlike his old Master, he had more tact than to say something like “About the future, worry not, for changing it is, always” to a youngling and only cause her more distress.

“Very well then, if you could accompany me to afternoon tea, I will teach you how to brew a tea that can help alleviate seer-sickness.”

Her red-tinted eyes lit up immediately and in her excitement to follow after him, she moved to get up. But she seemed to have forgotten that she was under a bench as her head collided with the wood.

“Ouch”, she said more in sheepishness than pain and slowly crawled out. Then she gathered herself, blanket and all, and followed him.

And if anyone saw a youngling trailing after the elegant and reverent Jedi Master, both looking incredibly alike in their long strides and long cloaks, even though one was an actual cloak whilst the other was a blanket, no one dared to comment or coo at the sight.

Except Master Yoda and Knight Jinn, but they could be dealt with on another day.

*****

She swirled the hot water in the kettle thrice and drained it. She then added the tea leaves as she had been told, one teaspoon for each person and one for the pot. Once there were four teaspoons of leaves in the pot, she poured in the freshly boiled water into the kettle as required and closed the lid. She then set the kettle aside and rearranged the honey, sugar, cream, cups and saucers as she waited for the leaves to steep.

She then looked up with a smile.

Both Master Yoda and Obi-Wan squinted at her.

“Where did you learn to brew tea?” Obi asked.

“Master Dooku taught me”, she beamed, “He said it would help settle my seer-sickness.”

Master Yoda chuckled under his breath.

*****

When Dooku first heard of Master Yoda’s new Padawan, he was a bit skeptical about the Padawan’s, (a youngling at that) ability to keep up with the ancient Master. But then he thought back to all incidents that involved her over the past three years and decided that his old Master had finally received a Padawan who could match, and maybe surpass, his… Yoda-ness. And what’s more, she was practically gift-wrapped and shoved into his small clawed hands by the Force.

Truly, divine retribution did seem to exist.

*****

“Hey, Master Dooku.”

“Yes, Padawan.”

“How do you understand what Master Yoda is telling you?”

“You don’t until you do.”

Ahsoka stared at him.

He stared back.

“So…” she dragged out the word before continuing, “I have to stay patient and get used to it…?”

“Yes, it’s an acquired skill.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me: Why the hell did I write about Ahsoka and Dooku bonding?  
> My muse: Why not?  
> Me:...  
> My muse: You may have the entire story plotted out, but just writing down plot points won't make it a readable one. You need to make it organic. And to do that you need to go slow. Besides, if you want to make later conflicts compelling, you need to add layers of depth and emotion to each character, even the ones who seem unimportant, early on. This way you can have enough time to flesh out these characters and start your conflict on the battlefields of philosophy and morality before moving on to the physical terrains of various planets or space. It can also help you incorporate elements and surprises in a way that doesn't look like an ass-pull...  
> Me:...  
> My muse:...  
> Me: When did you start sounding like the author of the Just Write YouTube channel?


	10. Gather memories for your story

His body seemed to be a little off from his sagittal plane. This was probably why his hind legs were a paw to the left of his front legs. It also made him look a little wonky and windswept when he trotted along but that just had the overall effect of making him look more endearing.

That, and his quirk of looking around with bright black bug eyes and his tongue flopping out of his mouth.

It has been three years now, but she would still recognise those twinkling eyes anywhere.

And he seemed to recognise her too, for he sniffed the air once, turned to look at her, lit up like a thousand floating lanterns and bounded toward her. She barely had time to brace herself before she found herself being hit by twenty five kilos of pure massiff.

She nearly fell back, but she found her footing. A second later, she was covered in at least two litres of massif drool. And though her face had turned into a sticky mess, she found that she quite like the friction of a rubbery canine tongue on her skin.

“Down boy, down”, she giggled and the massiff slipped out of her hands and sat his rump on her feet like a warm heavy blanket. Then he began to alternate between looking up at her and swivelling around.

Force, but he had grown.

“Mandla!” a voice called out to him in muted horror, “No! Get off her now!”

Ahsoka looked up at the sound of a familiar voice.

And saw a very familiar face.

“Amahle!” she called out in glee.

“Ahsoka?” Amahle said a little hesitantly, and then recognition crossed her face, “Ahsoka, it is you!”

Then the young Togruta found herself with an armful of Pantoran.

The young massiff, Mandla, huffed and wiggled so hard it looked like he was trying to shed his hide.

“Met a friend, have you?” her Master asked from her side.

Both girls nearly jumped a meter in the air before turning to face the small green person. Ahsoka had the sense to smile sheepishly. “Sorry, Master”, she said, “This is Amahle. Amahle, this is Master Yoda. He’s my Master.”

“Good to meet you, Master Yoda”, Amahle curtsied.

“And I, you, youngling”, the old Master replied, “Come along now. Late, we will be.”

“But Master, Amahle is here by herself!”

At that, the young Pantoran snorted. “Actually, I’m here with my father”, she said and pointed to a man who was standing a little ways away and speaking on his comm while keeping a close eye on them.

“Oh.”

“I’ll see you later then…?”

“Yeah…”

Ahsoka waved goodbye and walked alongside her hobbling old master, all the while pretending that her heart wasn’t breaking at the sudden hunch in her friends shoulders or the sound of Madla’s sad whining.

Master Yoda looked at her dragging her feet.

“Meet them again, you can”, he stated wisely, “Have somewhere to be, don’t you?”

Ahsoka only nodded in response.

“Then take comm number from her, you will”, he replied, “Call her later, you can.”

Ahsoka paused for a second and then beamed. She thanked her Master and ran to back to her friend, leaving her Master to fondly gaze at her.

*****

**Three rotations ago…**

“Peacekeepers, Jedi are”, her Master stated, “The Force made physical. Protect others, our responsibility it is. Do this, how does a Jedi, hmm?

Ahsoka looked at him blankly. “…Tell people when they are wrong and help them find a right way to do… whatever they want to do?”

Master Yoda paused at that and blinked at her. “Right you are”, he mumbled.

Ahsoka blinked back.

“However!” Master Yoda boomed.

Ahsoka startled and fell off her cushion.

“A Jedi’s weapon, the lightsaber is”, he addressed the Togruta sprawled on the floor. “Gather your crystals, you must. Build your lightsaber, you will.”

“Huh? That’s it?” Ahsoka asked as she rubbed the part of her behind that had hit the floor hard.

Master Yoda blinked.

“That’s it, you say?” he asked.

Ahsoka shrugged. “I thought I still had a lot to learn before I was chosen for the Gathering”, she said as she got back onto her cushion.

“Wish to beat Master Windu, don’t you?”

“Actually, I wish to beat Master Krell and learn from Master Windu”, Ahsoka rolled her eyes, “Master Windu just has a flair for the dramatic. He loves to tell people that my life goal is to annoy him to death.”

“It is not?”

“Of course not. Have you seen how Master Jinn seems to have his lips frozen into a smile? My life goal is to wipe it off his face.”

*****

There was a showroom that boasted of several types of electronic devices displayed in the shopfront, including lighting systems for large estates, audio systems for speeders, various types of comms and several different types of droids. Ahsoka walked right past it.

“Down here, what will you find?” the Master asked her, “Spare electronic parts, you are looking for, I was told.”

“I will know when I find them”, the Padawan replied.

They descended down ten levels via a turbolift. They then made their way through the labyrinthine level to the market that sold everything anyone could ever need, from literal dirt to mushroom so rare that a single one would easily be more expensive than seven star cruisers.

There was a modest shop highlighted by a big neon sign. Through the shopfront window, one could see converters, power cells, comms, lights, several types of wiring cables, speakers, droid parts and even tools.

Ahsoka walked right past the shop.

“How long will this endeavour take? Tired I am.”

“Master Yoda, you are literally sitting on my shoulders like a toddler. There is no reason for you to be tired.”

“Quiet, Padawan. Nine hundred years old I am.”

“That means you are old enough to know that we will get there when we get there”, Ahsoka said firmly.

Master Yoda just crossed his arms on top of her head and grumbled under his breath.

“Patience, Master”, his Padawan chirped.

“Grow up, when did you?”

“When I realised that you were small enough to pass for a youngling and took advantage of it every chance you got.”

And not for the first time, Yoda marveled that the sheer spinal strength that the Togruta species possessed. He supposed they evolved to bear the weight of their fluid filled, lattice structured montrals and fat and muscle filled lekku. Still, their necks were surprisingly strong for being so delicate-looking. It also meant that they could bear his weight when he was on his favourite perch far better than any other species could.

Neither of them heard the people whispering and mumbling around them.

Either that, or they simply didn’t care.

They just made their way down by several more levels.

*****

**Five rotations ago…**

Her padawan braid slapped against her right lek as she spun and came to a stop in a crouch. Her wrist hurt, but it was a price she had willingly paid. Her body was not strong enough to follow the moves her instincts pressed on her. However, for as long as she remembered, Master Cin Drallig had always told them that rather than wait for their bodies to grow, they should practice so they would get accustomed to such movement.

So here she was, slipping and spinning away from her opponents guard, never staying in his line of sight, not moving into any formal katas taught in the temple and only attacking when she was sure there was an opening.

Most of her attacks were either blocked or redirected because she wasn’t as fast as she wanted to be. But it had worked to make her last a lot longer in the ring than any of her fellow Padawans.

_“Why are you always going on about teaching me how to fight people bigger than me?”_

_“Well, let me know if you ever find an enemy smaller than you.”_

“Slippery, little one”, Knight Krell stated as he stood to his full height, “But sloppy. How do you expect to ever survive if you can’t defend yourself?”

Ahsoka frowned at him. She knew she wasn’t fighting like a Jedi trained in the formal arts. But that wasn’t the point of this spar, was it?

Knight Krell had been clear. The point of this spar was to **survive.**

The Besalisk Jedi brought down the composite practise saber down on her with a sharp snap. But Ahsoka had already rolled to her left, clearing under his sword point and inside his guard. Pressing down on the floor with her hands on top of her sabers, she spun low and brought her foot down on the back of Krell’s knee. The hit destabilised him, but he recovered very quickly and moved to hit back with his second saber and Ahsoka cartwheeled out of the way. She landed in a crouch near the line on the other side of the ring.

_They looked so tired and so beaten down, she had wanted to clutch them and not let go. She had wanted to stay with them, reassure them, anything to wipe away the darkness of grief clinging to them._

_But she had stayed her hand and held her tongue. It wasn’t the Jedi way._

_And she had come to regret it…_

“The way you all fight, I have seen your death.”

Ahsoka frowned. Something about those words resonated within her. Like an abstract painting that she was just a minute off from understanding.

 _“I have seen your death”,_ he had said.

Suddenly, it all made sense…

And she knew what she had to do.

Right foot slightly behind the other, body angled a little to the right, face forward, saber held vertically at her right, she positioned herself into the opening stance of Ataru.

“Look at me, Master Krell”, she said, “I haven’t died yet.”

She then launched herself high into the air, and brought the blade down on the Jedi.

Krell brought up his right saber to block her attack and raised the left one to strike her. But Ahsoka was already using his immovable stance to vault over him. The moment her feet touched the floor, she jumped backward to dodge his left saber’s swing as he spun to meet her. She parried his right saber’s swing, spun her own saber to redirect the blade to her far right and used all her strength to slip under his guard. Taking advantage of the contact between their sabers, she used the momentum of Krell’s downward swing to slide her blade up, under his arm until it struck him in the middle. She then jumped as far away from him as she could.

She came to a stop on the other end of the ring, panting for breath. No matter what she did, she was still ten years old, still a child who didn’t have the stamina for a prolonged fight. The last move had zapped her of what little stamina she had left.

But she wouldn’t back down.

The Besalisk Knight was looking at her in open shock while clutching his middle. She didn’t notice the other Padawans gaping at her. She also didn’t notice the one Master who had entered the salle.

“I’m the one who survives, Master Krell”, she declared.

Something in the man’s visage twisted. He turned to face her and…

“That’s enough”, a stern, authoritative voice rang out in the salle.

Everyone turned to look at Master Windu, who was standing at the door, “Good show, Padawans.”

All the Padawans, including her, turned to bow at the Master and thank him.

“Class is dismissed for now. Knight Krell, may I have a word with you?”

*****

The shop they finally reached was unbelievably large but somehow had practically no space to stand in. It had a very narrow, one-person-wide pathway that was lined with towers of random things, ranging from speeder parts to mops. Yoda nervously eyed the towers that were stacked so high that they threatened to fall over and crush both him and his Padawan. His nervousness grew when he saw the knives, forks and power cells hanging from the ceiling like morbid decorations.

Ahsoka didn’t seem bothered at all as she had walked in without a second thought.

Her old Master shuddered on her shoulder. _Mysterious, the Force is_ , he tried to remind himself.

“What can I help you with?” an ancient voice asked.

Yoda felt like an ice spike was shoved down his spine.

“I’m looking for some things and I think I can find them here, Ma’am”, Ahsoka chirped in reply, completely oblivious to the feeling of abject terror her Master was drowning in.

The diminutive, old orange woman blinked her lens-covered large-looking eyes at the Togruta girl. The girl’s smile faded a bit, so her gaze shifted to the small, green Master on her shoulders.

“I see”, she said, looking at Yoda very thoughtfully. She squinted at him for a second before coming to a decision. “Very well, you may go look for what you want, but by yourself. Leave your Master here.”

Ahsoka tilted her head up to silently ask for permission.

Yoda actually took a little time to debate over his options before sighing. “Go”, he stated as his ears drooped.

A large smile spread across the Togruta’s face as she lifted him up and placed him on the counter beside her.

“Thank you, Master”, she chirped and then turned to small woman, “Thank you, Ma’am.” She then happily skipped her way into the dark bowels of the shop and left her dear Master behind to face off a creature straight from his nightmares.

“Well, well”, Maz Kanata drawled, “It’s been a while. Never thought I’d see you with another one.”

Yoda glared at her. “Here you are, why?” he asked.

“Is that any way you speak to your elders?" she asked back and pet him on the head.

He batted her hand away and let out a soft growl-grumble.

“Nine hundred years old, I am.”

“I’m still older.”

There was a crash at the back of the shop. “Sorry!” Ahsoka yelped, “I’ll put it back!”

“Don’t worry”, Maz yelled back, “I’ll clean it up. Just get what you want.” She turned back to Yoda. “You got a really cute one now. What made you choose her?”

She looked confused when Yoda didn’t reply. A moment later, her face lit up.

“You didn’t choose her!”

“Know that, you do not”, he snapped.

“Careful now. Release your feelings into the Force”, she cackled, “Besides, you’ve developed the habit of overlooking the ones that matter.”

“I do not!” Yoda growled indignantly.

“Do too.”

“Do not!”

“Do too!”

“Do not!”

Maz seemed about ready to continue but was interrupted by an even bigger crash as one of the stacked towers collapsed, raising a cloud of dust.

“Sorry!” Ahsoka yelled back.

“In all seriousness though”, the woman said, looking completely somber now, “Did she bring you here?”

“Matters, how does it?”

Maz looked at him quietly for a moment, her gaze sharp and calculating. “You don’t realise it, do you?” she mumbled more to herself than to him, “You do see it, but not completely. You may have noticed her anomalous presence and her untapped potential, but you don’t really see everything.” But then she shook her head. “But what did I expect. You are attached to your Code.”

Yoda frowned at her. “Jedi, you are not”, he stated firmly, “Selfish your choice was, speak not ill of that you do not understand.”

Maz seemed unfazed. “Yes, my choice was selfish, but I’m not speaking ill of your Code”, she replied calmly, far too calmly, “I’m just saying that you are seeing only one side. The Light, not the Dark.”

The Grandmaster frowned. “Darkness in her, you see?” he asked challengingly.

“Yes and no”, Maz replied, “Like I said, you aren’t seeing the whole picture.” She turned to rearrange a few knick knacks on the counter near her. “Whatever classifications were invented, were done so to make comprehension and application easier not to define or govern.”

The old Master wanted to reply, but he was interrupted when his Padawan emerged from the dark depths of the shop. She was covered in dust, there was a smudge on her right cheek that covered her wing, but she was grinning widely while holding up an assortment of random… junk.

*****

**Seven rotations ago…**

Her schedule as a Padawan had grown hectic now that she was of age. Now deliveries were expected to be faster, low-level reports needed to be filed perfectly to ensure the smooth working of the bureaucratic machinery, proper food items needed to be negotiated for the commissary, notifications needed to be sent to the Jedi Corps for any and all temple maintenance needs and younglings in the crèche needed to be babysat.

Lessons were more personalised now, with Master Yoda quizzing her at random times or making her do random exercises while making her carry him around.

She wished they were less personalised.

Especially when both Master Yoda and Master Drallig seemed to be invested in her lightsaber training. Currently, they both kept frowning at her disapprovingly as she ran through her katas.

“The swings aren’t wide enough”, Master Drallig said.

_Wide swings are needed only when there is weight that can be leveraged into power, like with traditional weapons. But lightsabers are blades of light, weightless except at the hilts._

“Grounded, your footing, is not”, Master Yoda said.

_Stay grounded only when you are sure that you can take a hit and keep moving. If not, either learn to redirect the attack or leverage even the smallest foothold for evasion._

They were the Masters, she was the student. The lessons were clear.

_If you have to bastardize moves, then do it after you have mastered them, not before. That way, you will know exactly what you should do and when._

But no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t get the words out of her head or stop seeing the spectre of the golden-brown haired man who kept smiling proudly at her.

_You may not understand it now, but you will one day._

*****

 _What an interesting child_ , Maz had thought when she first saw the Togruta. She was a small and bright little thing, with a strong stance and sharp senses. The girl’s skin glowed the same as her own and the markings on her face seemed to have recently taken shape - eyebrow marks leading to two parallel lines that crooked in the middle to create a detached diamond pattern and defined by full diamonds on either side, while her cheeks had two bifurcated wing-like patterns. She even wore an Akul-tooth headdress.

And as the girl laid all her catch on the counter, Maz’s thought was reinforced like never before.

Yoda frowned at the collection he saw and that only caused Maz to hold back her smile and stay quiet.

The Force had always led her to objects that seemed like junk to everyone else. She held onto them because she alone understood their value.

She didn’t tell either of them that the dreamcatcher with hanging Rhombus shaped pieces was made from iron mined from the sacred Rakthurvarā mountain range of Shili. Or that the random cubical tubes were made from some of the finest Beskar from Mandalore that could only be cut or etched in a certain way. Or that the old rusted scope had two lenses with the most precise focal points carved from a type of quartz found only on Jedha. Or that plastoid loth-cat toy from Lothal had two very powerful ring magnets that stabilised its movement. Or that the two power cells she picked up were manufactured by one of the Fardi clan’s factories.

Instead, she looked up at the girl and smiled. “So, what do you think all this is worth”, she gestured to the collection on the counter.

The girl looked at her, looked at the objects on the counter and dug into her pouch. She then pulled out a certain number of credits – no doubt from the stipend she received and probably saved. She frowned slightly, recounted the credits and then placed them on the counter.

“Are you sure?” Maz asked.

“Yes”, she replied firmly, “This is their price. Not a chip more, not a chip less.”

And Maz let out the smile she had been holding back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me: I stuffed a lot of things in here...  
> My muse: You won't be giving clues, will you?  
> Me: Now where's the fun in that?  
> My muse: You rewatched Puella Magi Madoka Magica and Rebellion again, didn't you?  
> Me: Yes, I did.  
> My muse: And Houseki no Kuni.  
> Me: Yes...  
> My muse: Revolutionary Girl Utena?  
> Me: ... yes...  
> My muse: ... that explains the headaches...


	11. The path not taken

_This man was odd-looking, a humanoid like a Pantoran but different. For one, he was a little taller than her, Pantorans weren’t really known for their height except for a few rare exceptions. His skin was a deeper hue. He had a pronounced forehead. His hair strands seemed more human-like in texture than Pantoran even if it was a deep midnight blue. His eyes had red irises in the middle of red sclera that you couldn’t differentiate between from afar but could clearly make out from near. His lower eyelids also seemed to have a natural red streak._

_His presence sang in a contralto pitch and he stood silent and unyielding. However, there was something he seemed to be missing, something he was looking for…_

_A few years ago, she would have snarled at people like him, maybe even threatened them._

_But she was no longer a child defending herself on a battlefield._

_“Let’s make a trade”, he said softly._

She couldn’t sleep again. That was why she had taken to wandering down the passageways like a rakghoul.

The sound of approaching mechanical footsteps alerted her before the voice did. She turned around to greet the ancient droid. She didn’t know how she knew he was ancient, Master Yoda had only mentioned the droid in passing, but her guess was confirmed when she saw his scratched-up, dented and rusted body.

“Too excited to sleep?” he asked. There was a deeper echo to his voice that only added to his age.

“Something like that”, she mumbled.

Cheep let out a few worried beeps next to her.

“I see”, the old droid stated as he bent down at the waist to look down at her. The eyepiece on his head swung down over his right eye as he examined her for something only he knew.

It took her a few seconds to realise that Cheep had just tattled on her. She turned to him with a look of utter betrayal. She just felt a little tired – never mind that her eyes burned, her face felt grimy, her limbs heavy and her joints creaky.

He beeped unrepentantly in reply.

“Hmm.” Whatever the old droid had seen must have answered whatever questions he had. “What is your name, youngling?”

“I’m Ahsoka Tano.”

“Good to meet you, Ahsoka Tano. I am Huyang, lightsaber designer and architect”, his eyepiece swung back up as he turned and started walking down a passageway with his hands behind his back. He turned to look back at her when he saw that she hadn’t moved. “Come along now. Perhaps you would like to take a look at the Maps.”

Ahsoka perked up and skipped after him.

“Did you know that the Crucible was constructed in the era of the Old Republic? It has been in service since then, survivimg through the Great Sith War and the Mandaloria-Jedi War, ferrying younglings and medics all across the galaxy”, Huyang explained as they made their way to the navigation room adjacent to the cockpit. The ship had been placed on autopilot with a course previously plotted out by Senior Padawan Tapal.

The old droid led them all to the holotable. Once they were settled around the table, he punched in a few codes and the map appeared before them. “This ship has travelled across many unknown parts of the galaxy. It has maps of territories that aren’t available in any other database.”

The dead reckoning plots of the Crucible’s current course and several previous courses were pulled up to overlap on the map. They seemed to exiting sector J9 and moving into I9 and it seemed to be the most common route, with only slight variations over the years accounting to several astronomical phenomena. However, there were a few plots that showed courses that extended to other parts on the edges of the Galaxy.

Huyang pointed at some of the star systems on display. “We’ll be moving around a young system just in the throes of coalescing into planetoids. I’m sure it will be an event to be witnessed if we had a chance, even if it takes another few millennia.” The last bit was muttered.

“Moving on, we’ll be making our way past this unnamed system. Did you know that the Jedi Order discovered two planets in the extreme ends of the circumstellar habitable zones that have already showed signs of developing primodial silicate-based lifeforms? In a few generations, you will be seeing a system that will proudly host both a volcanic planet and an arctic planet! And personally, I think it was good that the Order did not release this to the general public. These planets would have been terraformed and colonised in an instant without any chance of any local flora or fauna developing naturally.”

Ahsoka nodded in agreement as she stared at the maps in awe. Huyang went on to explain a few other star systems in the sectors that were rarely explored, giving her the very first hints of how big and vast the galaxy was.

Her eyes then drifted to the sectors far beyond the bounds of Jedha and Ilum. Something about it seemed… strange…

“What about these sectors, sir?” she asked as pointed at them. “Sectors E8, F8, E9 and F9. The map says Unknown Regions but you have a few dead reckoning plots here. Shouldn’t they be classed as Wild Space, right?”

Huyang looked at the part she was pointing at. “You’re right”, he replied as he brought his hand up to his chin in a distinctly humanoid habit, “And normally they would be classified as Wild Space considering the routes exist even if the regions were unexplored.” The eyepiece swung into place over his right eye again. “There are a few routes mapped here, but take a look at their dates. The most recent was more than a millennium ago. The Galactic Barrier has made these regions difficult to explore.” He went quiet for a minute, but Ahsoka could hear his hydraulics and gear whirring, as if he were searching his databanks for something. “Ah, I remember. The Jedi had a method for exploring the hyperspace anomalies in this region, but that was lost during the Great Sith war.”

“Oh”, Ahsoka said. Her eyes then moved to more regions in the space. Without thinking, she reached out with her fingers, pointing at certain astronomical bodies in various regions of the Unknown Regions and Wild Space. It was almost funny how the Galaxy was divided into Rims when the actual regions were not really circular, instead squiggly splats, especially the Outer Rim that mingled with Wild Space.

“Ahch-To, Endor, Mustafar, an imploded star cluster in sector Q21, Ryloth, Tatooine, Scariff, Kamino, Lothal, Malachor, Korriban, Yavin, Mandalore and an event horizon in sector K2 – that is quite an odd route”, Huyang’s quiet comment snapped her out of her trance and made her jump, “Is this a code?”

Ahsoka blinked and felt a yawn build up in her throat. “Yeah, I think it will be”, she replied groggily.

“I see”, the old droid replied, even though Ahsoka was very sure that he didn’t really see. But before she could say anything, he was ushering her out of the room and toward the cabin she was sharing with Bant. “Off to bed with you now. We will be landing on Ilum in approximately five hours. That should give you at least four and a half hours of rest.”

Ahsoka climbed up to her bunk and was asleep before her head even hit the pillow. In the darkness of her sleep, she dreamed of endless deserts, vast oceans, dense forests, rivers of lava and hidden worlds.

*****

_The heart of the planet was dead, removed and used to fulfil a greedy ambition. She heard its cry in the Force as it was violated in the worst way possible. Even after death, it was used as a womb for another monstrous creation…_

Ahsoka shook her head to try and clear the image of the beautiful silver planet with a trench carved out of its middle and stripped of its essence. The planet was alive now, its presence singing in the Force, an orchestral composition grand and glorious.

There was a blizzard blowing when they descended down the ramp of the ship. Obi and Bant huddled closer to her as they followed behind Padawan Tapal.

Jaro stopped and knelt down on a platform of stone. She felt like she had seen it several times before, a structure carved into the bedrock of Ilum. She could feel the phantom chill of brushing snow off the stone, just the way the older Padawan was doing at this very moment.

“Younglings, gather around and focus the Force”, he called out to them, “We can only enter when we work together.”

He held out his hand and called to the Force. Ahsoka did the same, and soon all the initiates followed.

There was a loud crack, sounding like the earth itself has split in two. Then the ice cliff in front of them shifted and moved to reveal the ancient doors hidden behind them. Slowly, one by one, each of the pillars descended into the land below.

“Hurry, the sun has risen. It’s time to begin your harvest”, Jaro said as he led them inside.

The cavern they entered was huge, rivalling the main hall of the Jedi temple. Sunlight seeped in through the high windows, warming the chamber a little. Ice coated everything here, from the pillars to the tiled floors, giving the entire structure a crystalline sheen.

On a pedestal in the centre of the room, sat Master Yoda. He smiled at them as they entered.

“Master”, Ahsoka bowed to him respectfully.

“Padawan”, the old Master inclined his head in return, before greeting the other initiates, “Younglings, to Ilum, I welcome you. The seat of an ancient temple, this is.”

He then pulled his lightsaber from within his robes. “The Force made physical, a Jedi is. Peacekeepers, we are. A great responsibility, we have. Protect others, how does a Jedi?” He ignited his lightsaber and levitated it, spinning it in mid air.

The initiates watched in awe.

Ahsoka rolled her eyes. _Show off._

She swore he smirked at her in reply.

“Build your own lightsabers, you shall. The heart of the lightsaber, a crystal is. Harvest it, each of you must.”

He then extended his hand upward. Everyone looked up and watched in awe as a pendant with two crystals suspended from the ceiling began to rotate. The larger crystal in the middle began to refract the rays of sunlight, lighting up the entire chamber in a brilliant glow. The smaller crystal resting on a branch, spun around it until it landed in the right position to redirect the light into a focused beam that melted the ice covering an entrance they had not noticed.

The ice melted away into a stream of water revealing a wide doorway that led to darkness beyond.

“To become a Jedi, enter the crystal caverns you must”, the Grandmaster pointed out, “Trust yourself, trust each other, and succeed you will.”

“Hurry, younglings, you must harvest your crystal”, Jaro told them, “Once you have found your crystal, don’t stay inside. The door has already started freezing over. If you don’t make it back in time, you will be trapped inside.”

“For how long?” Bant asked.

“Until the next rotation of this planet, no one will be able to help you”, the older Padawan replied, “And one rotation on Ilum lasts nineteen standard days.”

“How do we know which crystal to pick?” another initiate asked.

“You’ll know it when you find it”, Jaro replied.

All the initiates entered the cave, but Ahsoka stayed behind. She wasn’t sure why.

“Ahsoka?” Master Yoda asked.

Ahsoka looked up at the crystals hanging from the pendant – _Ilum and its sun_ – and, when she heard a cracking sound, at the doorway where the ice was growing back. _You cannot stop the flow of time…_

_She watched as the miners dug into the planet, cruelly offering it a slow and painful death._

_I won’t let it happen_ , she vowed. She then took a deep breath and took her strode into the darkness.

*****

“Maybe we should split up”, Obi-Wan suggested, “I know it would be better if we stay together, but if these crystals are unique to us, then we won’t find ours in the same place.”

They had all been squabbling about what to do. It was dark and cold here, and it was really getting under all their skins.

“What does your seer friend have to say?” Maia asked him.

These reactions were common, many younglings were jealous of the fact that Ahsoka was chosen as a Padawan at such a young age because she was a seer. Obi-Wan knew that not many of them understood just how of a toll it really was. But before he could say anything, Bant tugged on his sleeve.

“Where is Ahsoka?” she asked, her voice tinged with worry.

They ended up looking around, looking for the Togruta when a tall figure in a white cloak passed them by.

“What the…?” Obi-Wan moved to follow and soon realised that he was alone.

*****

Ahsoka found herself in the circular room with several doorways that led off into the dark. She didn’t know where to go and when she had turned to the Force, several screeches rang through her mind. The Force was telling her to go through all the doors.

But that wasn’t right. She knew it in her bones that this wasn’t right.

So, what could she do now?

The screech continued, the Force eddying around her and pulling her in different directions, towards different doorways. It was dizzying, her head throbbed and bile rose in her throat.

“Please stop”, she whispered. But no one heeded her. “Please… stop…”

She sunk down to her knees, holding the sides of her head and cupping her hands around her stubby montrals to try to keep the sounds out. The soft sound of her sobs were lost in the echoes around her.

*****

Something scuttled in the dark behind him. He spun around to see it, but the shadow on the cave wall disappeared.

He turned back to continue on his path when he heard the scuttling again. This time, it seemed to be approaching him. He reached out with the Force, but there was no reply.

He felt the cold nipping at his skin even through his protective coats and robes. The shadows seemed to converge on the walls around him. The walls of ice and crystal started to turn opaque.

Something cold settled in his heart. So Obi-Wan did the only thing he could.

He ran.

*****

“Calm down, Ahsoka”, she told herself, “Calm down.”

She closed her eyes and ignored all the sounds around her, focussing only on her heartbeat. The Force bellowed around her, trying to gain her attention.

 _No_ , she thought firmly, focussing only on her heartbeat. The noise was not the Force, it was just that – noise. The path she needed to take, she alone knew. She needed to find it, even if the world howled around her.

 _That is not what I need_ , she thought firmly and focused on herself. So she stayed quiet and waited. She heard her heartbeat slow down and felt her breaths even out.

_In. Out. In. Out._

The howling, bellowing and wailing slowly died out.

No, they just began easier to sort through until she heard the sound that really mattered.

A soft hum, deep and low, singing of something long forgotten. She opened her eyes and looked at the doorway from where the sound was originating. She slowly got to her feet and approached the opening.

The song came to an abrupt halt.

Shocked, she reached out again.

And felt nothing.

She took in a deep breath and reached out again, slowly, carefully. A soft trill escaped her throat.

A pulse of warmth and an answering trill returned.

 _I’m here, I’ll listen_ , she thought. She then stepped into the doorway.

****

Obi-Wan looked at the wall that blocked his path. He pressed his palms flat against it.

Behind him, the sound of scuttling grew closer. The darkness approached, and with it a sever chill that seeped into his bones.

He banged at the wall and scowled in frustration. _What am I supposed to do?_ he thought in despair. He turned to lean against the wall and slid to the floor. He brought his knees up to his chest and hid his face.

 _Breathe_ , he told himself, _Trust in the Force, trust in yourself._

He could hear the sound of claws skitter across the hard crystalline floor.

 _The Force will guide me, right?_ he thought, _either that or I will freeze here._

So he closed his eyes and focused.

The footfalls grew louder as whatever the creature was got closer.

But he focused on his breathing.

“I’m one with the Force, and the Force is with me. I’m one with the Force, and the Force is with me”, he repeated the chant he had been taught as a youngling to focus on meditation.

And suddenly, the world around him grew clearer. He didn’t need his eyes to see. Because he saw exactly what was in front of him.

_Your fear._

*****

Her path through the caverns twisted around a lot. She passed through small tunnels with smooth walls that made her slip more than once, large chambers with pointy stalactites hanging from the ceiling and caves where the walls were eroded away by the ice to reveal strata-like patterns she ran her fingers along. Several times she felt a pull toward other areas or saw the twinkles of crystals, but she firmly followed the path that didn’t pull her along.

Finally she reached a chamber covered in ice walls with several crystals that shone like the stars in the darkness of space. She was sure her crystals were here, among the ones that shone bright in her eyes to distract her.

So she closed her eyes and focused until she heard it.

Two songs complementing each other - a duet. But the sounds echoed from opposite sides. She opened her eyes and saw the two crystals that shone the brightest to her on the far ends of the room on either side.

She spread out with both her hands and reached out to them **together.** The walls shook as the crystals reacted to her call through the Force. A low rumble was heard and chunks of ice dislodged from the ceiling and fell to the ground around her, some missing her by mere inches.

But that didn’t deter her.

She continued to coax the crystals and tug them gently toward her.

After what felt like an eternity, the crystals dislodged from the walls at the same time and floated toward her. She turned her hands upward and the crystals fluttered down to settle warmly on her palms.

She brought her hands to her chest to take a look at them. They were octahedral in shape with rounded edges and soft points and they shone with all the colours in the universe.

They were perfect.

*****

He kept his eyes closed and reached out with his hand. There was something here and it was just as scared of him as he was of it.

The Force was quiet around him as he crawled forward.

One step, two steps, three more and then…

His fingers brushed against something soft and oily.

He startled and sat back before regaining his footing.

_There is no reason to be scared._

He reached out again, slowly this time, until his fingers brushed against that soft coat again.

There was a thrum of approval in the Force around him. So he opening his eyes slowly. And saw the trembling white bird standing before him.

A snowfeather bird, native of Ilum, known to create illusions to distract its predators or prey. It stood up on its powerful hind legs and flapped its fingered wings at him, threatening to scratch him with its talons. It then screeched at him.

Obi-Wan thought it was a beautiful bird. It had a sleek body built for running and climbing, long neck, small head, long pointed white beak and shimmering silver feathers. It even had a crest of long feathers on top of its head which was smoothed back in aggression.

“It’s ok”, he told it soothingly as he reached out in the Force, “I won’t hurt you.”

The bird seemed to calm down as it straightened up. Its crest perked up and it tilted its head to look at him with brilliant green eyes. With a final trill, it fluffed its feathers and sprinted away.

He watched it go in awe before a glint caught his attention. He turned back to where the bird had stood and found a crystal glittering up at him.

He picked it up and placed it on his palm. It looked like parallelepiped and it was so transparent that he could see every detail on his skin through it. The Force settled around him in a way that was **right.**

This was his crystal.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, updates will slow down a bit as I will be getting back to work this week. And there is the usual housework and taking care of a kid.
> 
> Anywho, read and enjoy!


	12. Starlight, burning bright

The parts floated around her as she sat cross-legged on the floor, looking not unlike little planetoids orbiting their sun. The crystals floated together, one below the other. When they finally came together in front of her, the lightsabers began reassembling themselves around them.

Yoda had to admit that they were the oddest lightsabers he had seen yet. They had curved hilts with a rectangular cross-section. They were grey in colour, one light and the other dark. Each one had a single stripe running down the wider sides and each stripe was in the colour of its counterpart’s main body. And in the middle of each stripe were rhombus patterns in the colour of their own main body. There were a few black ridges on the outer hook end of each saber and a few small gold highlights on the blade end of the saber and around the activation stud.

The completed lightsabers floated horizontally in front of his Padawan. She opened her eyes and took hold of both blades, the light one in her right hand and the dark one in her left, in the reverse grip.

And then she ignited them, showing him what truly made them unique.

Pure white flowed out of the hilts and took shape, bathing the room in a brilliant glow.

He probably wouldn’t stop being fascinated, even if he had seen them every day for the past several months.

Both blades looked too big in her small hands, he wondered how long she will have to struggle to grip them. She had asked to learn Jar’Kai and always held her sabers in the less efficient, wrist-straining reverse grip. He shook off those thoughts though. They would all grow until their weapons fit right in their hands, he knew that. However, for a moment, he wondered if the darker coloured saber was supposed to be a shoto.

As if in response to his unasked question, Ahsoka spoke. “I always felt that one of my lightsaber’s was supposed to be smaller.” She deactivated them and laid them in front of her, “But I also feel like I’m wrong to keep hanging on. That I’ve somehow outgrown that need.”

“Hmm”, Yoda hummed, “Works in mysterious ways, the Force does.”

Ahsoka rolled her eyes at him. “I don’t need you to tell me that, Master”, she muttered.

Yoda hummed, smirked and whacked her upside the head. “Listen to your Master, you must”, he scolded lightly.

Ahsoka grumbled at him while rubbing her head. “I do listen to you…”

Yoda looked at her.

“… most of the time”, she admitted.

“Hmm.”

He took his time clambering to and then climbing onto his seat. Ahsoka picked up her lightsabers and began fidgeting with them.

He sat down, decided it wasn’t right, twitched, twisted, wriggled a bit, frowned, stood up, adjusted his robes, sat down again and made himself comfortable. His Padawan set her lightsabers aside and started bouncing her leg.

He set his cane aside slowly. He then spun it around this way and that until it was facing north to south, just the way he liked it. The Togruta opened her mouth and closed it again. She then took in a deep breath.

Yoda looked his Padawan in the eye and found her forcefully restraining herself even if she vibrated minutely with barely controlled energy. He supposed he had teased her enough.

“Old enough, you are, to accompany Masters on missions”, he declared and waited.

Ahsoka froze. She looked at him and kept looking at him. “We’re going on a mission?” she asked tentatively.

“No”, he replied and saw her wilt. Even her stubby montrals seemed to droop. “Going on a mission, you will be, with Master Jinn and his Padawan.”

“Really?” she asked as she perked up again.

“Really. Now, go, you must. For the briefing, Master Gallia, you must meet.”

“Thank you, Master!” Ahsoka hooked her lightsabers to her belt and skipped out of the room.

Yoda watched her go with a fond smile on his face. But then he startled and almost fell off his seat.

He could have sworn he saw the shadow of a great winged and horned beast following her.

*****

The building was, for lack of a better word, ugly. He could feel his eyes burning. The five-storey building was completely made of glass and a few girders of durasteel that reflected the sunlight everywhere. It was surrounded by an open courtyard with very few trees and shrubberies and bordered by durasteel fences. Not to mention that they had to pass through ten klicks of artificial forest to get there. It was an offence toward all life.

“Woah!” Little Ahsoka exclaimed as she looked at it. He felt a bit of disappointment at her obvious excitement. “It’s ugly!” she continued aloud, eliciting a few dirty looks and a sharp elbow to her side courtesy of his own Padawan.

Qui-Gon’s disappointment was swept away by a smile as she voiced his thoughts aloud. She had always been painfully blunt, like a bludgeon to the head.

He had wondered why Master Yoda had deemed him fit to take Ahsoka with him on his mission. Perhaps he trusted Qui-Gon to take care of his Padawan? Or he trusted that Ahsoka’s connection with the Force would help him clear the darkness here?

“Ahsoka!” Obi-Wan whispered, completely appalled when the ten-year-old Togruta stuck her tongue out at a few snobbish teenagers passing them.

Or perhaps it was because it would help Obi-Wan acclimatize to learning under a Maverick like him on account of having been her close friend for years now?

And hadn’t that been a kick in the gut?

Getting assigned a Padawan, as opposed to him choosing one, and then finding out that the Padawan is a complete opposite of him?

His thoughts were cut short when he saw a Human woman standing at the entrance of the Academy as they approached. She had dark hair tied up in a tight braided bun and she peered at him with silent violet eyes. Dressed in a sharp grey suit, she stood ramrod straight with her hands clasped neatly in front of her. Her appearance matched the contact he had been provided.

She looked at them with a stiff smile. Before Qui-Gon could speak, she did. “I take it you are the Jedi sent?” When all three of them nodded, “I am Freya Asketill. Please follow me. The Dean is waiting for you.”

“Wow, she needs a vacation”, Ahsoka muttered behind him.

Obi-Wan elbowed her.

She elbowed him in return.

And they devolved into a match of elbowing each other.

Qui-Gon just sighed at the enthusiasm.

*****

Obi-Wan stared at the hologram of the student. She was quite short for a fifteen-year-old Human, with two braids trailing down to her waist and dressed in the blue blazer and trousers of the Academy. Beside her holopic were significant blocks of text showcasing all her academic achievements.

However, that did not seem to be what his master wanted to know.

“Could you please explain what happened?” he asked. Obi-Wan had known that his Master wasn’t one to offer empty platitudes, but he was nonetheless shocked by the condescending tone. Even Ahsoka, who rarely humoured small talk, was a lot more polite.

The Dean seemed to hesitate. He turned to look at their escort, Freya, who was leaning against the wall to his left.

But the woman didn’t react. Instead, she was looking at Ahsoka with a razor focus and a frown of open disdain on her face that made Obi-Wan want to bristle.

Ahsoka, on the other hand, had closed her eyes and tilted her head slightly to the side the way she would when she was concentrating on feeling the Force or building a picture in her mind using her echolocation.

“Ahsoka?” Master Qui-Gon asked gently. Obi-Wan wasn’t very comfortable with interrupting her when she got like this.

Ahsoka opened her large blue eyes and looked at them. “There’s something here, isn’t there?” she asked softly.

The Dean startled badly. “I’m not sure how to explain it. Everything has been overly strange.”

“Strange, how?” Master Qui-Gon near demanded having finally gotten fed up with the dilly dallying.

“Students keep getting attacked”, the Dean replied. He was a mousy man, stout and a bit on the short side, with balding hair and narrow eyes. But he moved with a quiet sort of confidence that was currently offset with a sense of dread. “We aren’t sure what it is that keeps attacking them. Some of the witness say it was a beast, but the victim’s injuries were caused mainly due to falling or hitting things.” He looked off to the side as if remembering something. “It started with small incidents, just students tripping or walking into things. So we just waved it off as paranoia spreading because of ghost stories.”

“But it started getting worse?” the Jedi asked.

“Yes. Our most recent case was Ms Rae Tate… Her doctor had to place her in an induced coma. Her injuries…” He trailed off. He looked concerned and greatly disturbed.

Obi-Wan could understand why he looked like that when he saw the entire list of lacerations, claw marks, fractures and… the list seemed endless.

“So why request the aid of the Jedi?” his Master asked callously. Beside him, Ahsoka pulled in sharp breath.

The Dean hesitated for a minute, seemingly gathering his words. “The beast… I think I got a glimpse of it, but it seemed to fade away. We tried to capture footage of it, but every time a student was attacked, the security feeds either go offline or the videos get corrupted.” He then looked the Jedi straight in the eye. “And more recently, there have been other unexplained phenomena. I can’t explain it. Just…” He then pulled out a draw in his desk and pulled out datastick. He then handed the datastick to them. “I’m sorry I can’t be of much help Master Jedi. Please take a look at this. Hopefully, you’ll understand it better than I ever will.”

*****

Master Qui-Gon had shooed them off as soon as he found a computer terminal. So both Padawans were left to roam around the Academy to see or feel if anything was out of place. Obi-Wan decided to let Ahsoka take the lead. She was the one most suited for this.

So far, the only thing that felt out of place was the sheer amount of glass used in the building. The classroom walls, the corridors, the walkways, even the floor, practically everything other than the refreshers seemed to be made of glass. It not only made the light from the outside feel brighter and hotter, it also left him feeling exposed.

The students were in their classes and the corridors were empty. But that did nothing to reduce his discomfort, because every time they wandered past a class, every student and teacher turned to follow them with their eyes. It felt like every part of him was under scrutiny, that he was judged at every turn and was found lacking.

He turned to the Togruta leading the way and felt a bit envious at the fact that she didn’t seem affected by the gazes following her.

After a few moments, he realised that she had led him right to the entrance of the school. Perplexed, he turned to her and saw her visibly relax. He hadn’t noticed the stiff tension in her shoulders and back until she let it out at that moment.

“I hate it here”, she stated quietly.

It occurred to him then that he only saw Humans in this school, no other sentient species.

“Come on, let’s go see if we can find anything there”, he gestured toward the courtyard and the artificial woods beyond. It would probably be the only reprieve they could get here.

*****

There was something cold and dark here, the Force kept humming softly like a dirge. Ahsoka had been trying to hear it, trying to feel it in the Force, but it kept its distance, staying just beyond the bound of her sense.

Which is probably why she walked right into the person who had appeared from behind a tree. And being the smaller of the two, she fell back on hard on her rump.

“What the…” the person above her spoke.

“Our apologies. We didn’t see you”, Obi-Wan spoke as he held Ahsoka’s arm and helped her to her feet.

“Just watch where you’re going”, the person, a female if her voice was any indication, replied.

Ahoska looked up to see a pale-skinned girl with short brown hair. She was dressed in the standard uniform for the Academy and she was frowning at them. Something about her seemed off. So the Togruta began to scan her from top to bottom until her eyes fell on her bandaged left arm. The bandages were wound tight around her elbow, forearm and individual fingers.

The girl noticed Ahsoka looking at her arm. She shifted to the side to hid her arm behind her and glared at the both of them.

“Mind your own business”, she snapped at them.

“Ms Ryden, may I ask what you are doing out of class?” a new voice behind them asked.

The girl’s glare snapped from them to the newcomer. Ahsoka and Obi-Wan both turned to see another girl behind them. She looked remarkably like their escort, Freya Asketill, but smaller and with her hair gathered into a neat tail at the back of her head.

“Seeing as this is the third time I’ve caught you skipping class, you’ll be marked up for disciplinary action”, the girl said with a soft smile.

The other girl snorted. “Whatever”, she replied as she made her way back to school.

The Padawans watched the short-haired girl walk toward the school building before turning to the newcomer. She was older than them, maybe around fifteen years of age.

“I apologise for Saru’s behaviour”, she stated with an awkward smile, “She’s just a little rough around the edges.” She then bowed lightly at them. “I’m Karina Asketill. I’m a prefect here at the Kevätlaakso Academy.”

“I’m Padawan learner Obi-Wan Kenobi”, Obi introduced himself, “And this is my fellow Padawan learner Ahsoka Tano.”

“Ah, you must be the Jedi my mother was talking about.”

“We aren’t Jedi yet”, Ahsoka replied a little awkwardly.

Something about that response changed the way the girl looked at them, because suddenly she was smiling brightly at them. “No. But I guess you will be soon”, she replied. She then looked around them. “Is there something you are looking for?”

“Now that you mention it”, Ahsoka began, even though Obi kept nudging her to stop, “The Dean told us that this place is haunted. Something about a ghostly beast.”

Karina looked a bit surprised. “Well, students have been getting attacked by a wild beast. We think it’s either a dire-cat or a sand panther. I mean, the students who saw the beast say it’s a feline.”

She then leaned down to whisper to them, “But between you and me, I think the students are taking advantage of this to get out of work. You know, rearranging the furniture, vandalising property, the whole works.”

Ahsoka looked at Obi and saw him looking back at her. They then turned back to the girl to ask about the faulty security feeds when suddenly there was the sound of the bell ringing.

“Oh, it looks like it’s time for lunch”, Karina said as she looked back at the building. The students were slowly trickling out of their classes. “Would you like to join me for lunch?”

*****

The feeling of uneasiness did not leave him. In fact, it was made worse by the looks being shot at Ahsoka. Thankfully, they were seated at a bench in the corner of the cafeteria and Karina had sat in such a way that her body shielded Ahsoka from view.

“So what do you learn here in the Academy anyway?” Ahsoka asked as her meatballs into small sizes.

“The same thing you learn in your Jedi Order, I assume”, Karina replied. She watched as Obi-Wan quietly pushed two more meatballs into Ahsoka’s plate and Ahsoka pushed the sprouts onto his plate in return. “Languages, science, galactic history and the like. This academy basically prepares us with the basics so we can specialise in University later.”

“What would you like to specialise in?”

“Mainly telecommunication engineering, maybe programming and coding as well.”

“Any particular reason for you choosing that”, Ahsoka asked before eating a few more bites.

“I don’t know. I think I just like to connect with others in the galaxy”, she replied. Something must have caught her eye, because she was looking off to her right.

Obi-Wan followed her gaze and found that she was tracking a tall lanky boy with dark orange hair.

“Yeah”, Ahsoka agreed easily, “Communication is important.”

*****

The Jedi Master was walking around the campus deep in thought. He effortlessly dodged the people and objects around him and completely ignored the eyes that were tracking him.

After taking a look at the footage provided by the Dean, he found himself greatly disturbed. Random things levitating, furniture moving by themselves, a shadow of a great feline beast just beyond the line of sight of the recorders, the glitches and static just before the beast came into view… Not to mention the injuries sustained by the students…

He looked up at the glass covered building. The sun was setting now and the students were returning home. But the building still gleamed in the light of dusk, bright and blinding.

Qui-Gon could not quite shake of the cold feeling of dread that seemed to permeate every corner of this campus.

There was a flicker in the corner of his eyes. He turned sharply in the direction, but found nothing.

Carefully he reached out with the Force and…

 **ⁱ᷇᷇᷇G** **›̬᷿᷿᷇ ~~o~~** ** ~~ⁱ~~** **ᶫ᷊᷿᷿᷊᷊᷿᷄᷇᷉᷇‗᷄᷾a** **᷊᷊᷊᷊᷿᷄᷉᷄᷆w** **᷊᷿᷿᷆᷄᷉ⁱ᷇᷉ ~~a~~** ** ~~̬᷇᷇ᶫ᷊᷿᷂᷂᷿~~ y** **ᶫ᷆᷉** ﹴ **᷿᷿**

His eyes burned, his ears rang and he felt like his skin was being peeled off. He fell to his knees and tried to orient himself, but it was like static had filled his brain. He clutched his head and tried to reach out with the Force…

ᶿᶫ̬᷿᷆ ~~ **N᷿᷂᷉᷆᷇᷆** ﹴ **᷾Ṏ᷊̬**~~ ﹴ

*****

Obi stumbled as they made their way outside. Karina caught him before he could hit the floor.

“What… Master…” he asked and he looked really dizzy and dazed, like he had hit his head.

Ahsoka knew what this was, Master Yoda had been on the receiving end of it more than once. This was the backlash of the person on the other end of a Force bond experiencing a lot of pain or distress.

“Wait”, she said firmly to Karina and gestured for her to step back. “Let me handle this.” When the older girl stepped back, Ahsoka knelt in front of him and placed her palms on his cheeks. She then forced his head so he could look at her. “Obi, breathe, I’m right here.” She then tried her best to project **peace** in the Force.

Eventually, he got his breathing under control and his eyes came back into focus. “What…” he slurred slightly.

“Obi, I’m sorry, but I want you to focus. Where is Master Jinn?” she asked urgently.

“Uh… Master…” it took him another three breaths, but soon his entire being snapped back into focus. “We have to go!” he exclaimed, “We need to find him!”

He then sprang to his feet and ran. Ahsoka fell into step behind him without missing a beat. After a moment of hesitation, Karina followed.

*****

They found Master Jinn on the edge of the artificial forest. He was lying unconscious on the ground.

Karina being the prefect contacted the academy’s med center immediately.

Ahsoka clutched Obi’s arm as they watched Master Jinn being loaded on to the stretcher by a two medical droids. Beside them, the Dean was wringing his hands nervously.

“How did this happen?” he asked.

Neither Padawan had an answer for him.

A little ways away, Ahsoka saw Ms Freya talking to her daughter. But the way Karina stood felt wrong. So she decided to listen in.

“I was asked to assist them”, Karina said quietly.

“Assist them, yes”, her mother said firmly, “Not associate with them. I do not want you around them for long, especially the Togruta…”

Karina looked about ready to protest, but then she held her tongue and nodded.

Ahsoka stopped herself from reacting. She wasn’t stupid, she had seen the way people in this school, bar perhaps the Dean looked at her. But she couldn’t let that get to her.

There was something here, something that felt broken.

And they needed to fix it.

*****

“We have arranged accommodation for you in the city and there are shuttles leaving every two hours. You can ask to be dropped off at the location”, the Dean said, “We have a skeletal staff working off hours in the academy and the med center is open at all hours to offer support, so your Master will be well taken care of.”

“Thank you, sir”, Ahsoka replied, eyeing the way Obi-Wan was hunched by his Master’s side, “If you could give us the directions, we’ll head there in another hour or so.”

The Dean handed her the card before speaking, “I usually work late into the night. So if you need anything, please feel free to contact me.” He then left them to their own devices.

Ahsoka decided that she would like to walk around the school a little more while both Obi and Master Qui-Gon rested a bit. Besides, there was something she wanted to see.

She reached for the satchels they had brought with them, pulled out her lightsabers and hooked them to her belt. As she reached for the door, Obi called her name.

“Stay here, Obi. I’ll be right back”, she said without turning to look at him.

“What? No.” He sounded really indignant.

“Please trust me. I’ll be right back. Nothing will happen to me.”

She could feel his eyes on her back, silently scrutinising her. Then he let out a sigh. She took that as her cue to leave.

“Be careful”, she heard him whisper before she walked out.

“I will”, she whispered back.

It took a while to reach the spot where they had found Master Jinn. It was far past sunset and since the Kevätlaakso Academy was situated in the outskirts of the city, the vast amount of stars were visible in the sky.

She looked up in awe. Each of the stars she saw were images created from light from several millennia ago, she knew that. Some of those stars had probably died out long ago and there were many more new stars that weren’t visible. Yet, the star studded sky she saw at that moment was a moment of history captured for future generations.

A quiet scuff of boots in the dirt snapped her out of her thoughts. She looked back down and saw the short haired girl from earlier standing where Master Jinn had collapsed. She had slung her bag over one shoulder and was looking at the forest while drawing small circles in the dirt with her right foot.

“Hey”, Ahsoka called out, “You’re Saru, right?”

The girl seemed to snap out of whatever trance she was in and turned around in annoyance. “Who wants to know?”

“Sorry about earlier”, the Togruta said with a smile, “I’m Ahsoka Tano.”

“And I don’t care.”

Ahsoka’s smile faltered and died. “Ok. Fair”, she replied with a shrug, “What are you doing here anyway? Shouldn’t you go home?”

The girl snorted. “You’re a little too small to be telling me what to do, short-stack”, she replied with a smirk and patted Ahsoka on the head.

The younger girl batted away the hand with frustrated grunt.

“Do us a favour, would you?” Saru said, suddenly looking very serious, “Leave. You’ll only make things worse here.”

The Togruta blinked up at her. “Do you know what’s going on?” she asked.

Saru faltered and looked to the side, looking very unsure. There was something sad in her eyes. “I only know what I know”, she stated as she started walking

Ahsoka watched her as she walked away. Once the older girl was out of sight, she turned back toward the forest and froze.

There standing in the shadows of the trees and looking straight at her with blazing gold eyes was a predatory feline beast. It looked like a smaller version of an akul, but there was something infinitely more dangerous about it. The shadows seemed to warp around its lithe and powerful white body, and it glowed like a beacon in the forest. It pointed ears were pricked up and its tail swished lazily from side to side.

She felt a chill run down her spine and settle in her abdomen as it watched her with a calculating gaze. It slowly approached her, stalking forward on silent paws until it was standing a good foot above her. A glance downward showed her its deadly two-inch long claws. It opened its mouth, revealing razor sharp canines that were as big as her fingers, and huffed at her. The puff of hot air hit her in the face and she flinched slightly.

Then as lazily as it had approached her, it walked past her.

When it was well out of her sight, Ahsoka turned. But found that there was nothing there.

The beast had vanished, as if it had not been there at all.

The young Togruta fell to her knees, her body trembling.

Above her, the stars kept twinkling.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ... Well, the tags do say Eldritch Abomination...
> 
> You know, for all that Ahsoka is a Togruta, her physiology was not utilized at all. She was treated like a human. Everything about Togruta is just informed ability in data books. They are just treated like humans.  
> Come on, guys. The girl is OP just by virtue of her species!!


	13. The first star I saw at night

The sun broke over the horizon and lit up the world around her when she was running through her katas for the third time that morning. She hadn’t been able to sleep that well last night, still feeling the golden eyes on her.

Obi-Wan was meditating on his bed. He hadn’t slept very well either. On top of his worry for his Master, he had also sensed her fear when she had returned after pulling herself together.

And it was fear, she could say it easily now. When that beast had come out of nowhere and stood in front of her, she had not known how to react. It was so big and so powerful, it could have crushed her between its jaws in a fraction of a second and she would have not been able to do anything about it. Her entire being had gone completely numb, but once it had disappeared, energy she didn’t know she had had flooded her. It had left her twitching in her seat on the ride to the lodge and twisting and turning in her bed as well. Yet, she couldn’t get the thought out of her head, that under all that coiled power there was something familiar…

The tender light of the morning poured in through the window. And in the rays, she saw tiny dust motes floated about; rising higher, descending gracefully, always swaying, fluttering and dancing. She followed them until she was in front of the window and peering out. Her elbows came to rest on the window sill.

Corellia was similar yet different to the city planet of Coruscant. A lot of people lived on this planet that had once been one of the cornerstones of the Galactic Republic and one of the pioneers of space travel. It was covered in crowded cities and towering skyscrapers, with innumerable factories, hangers, docks and space stations. Yet, it hadn’t been stripped down like Coruscant. It still had its jungles, deserts, oceans and tundra. And the citizens here seemed to be conscious of their wealth and worked hard to preserve them.

Corellia was an interesting study in harmony between the artificial and the natural. And it absolutely fascinated her.

The bell to their room rang out snapping both her and Obi-Wan out of their thoughts. And while Obi jumped and tried to keep himself from falling off his bed, Ahsoka reached for the door.

“Good morning”, Karina greeted her with a smile once the door whooshed open.

Ahsoka ended up gaping. “Uh… Hi… Good morning”, she stammered, quickly followed by a, “What are you doing here?” And then she slapped a hand over her mouth.

Karina’s smile dimmed a bit. “I’m here to escort you to the Academy”, she stated patiently, “I thought you would feel better if you were accompanied there by someone familiar.” There was a touch of genuine kindness in her tone.

“But I thought…” This time Ahsoka trailed off in horror as she realised just what she was about to say.

Karina looked at her for a moment before her face fell. “Oh, you heard that.”

“I didn’t mean to eavesdrop…”

“I know. I heard Togruta have exceptional auditory perception. I guess this is what they meant.” Her voice had turned a little apologetic, as if she were apologising for how the people at the Academy spoke of her. Which was stupid, because she shouldn’t be the one apologising for someone else.

“Uh, we aren’t ready yet, so if you could wait for a bit…”

“Sure”, Karina replied easily. She stepped into the room behind Ahsoka and made herself comfortable on the empty bed.

*****

Once they were ready and out of the room, Karina led them through the city. Ahsoka couldn’t help but look around and listen to the sounds.

The buildings and roads here seemed to be made of stone and steel. And there were innumerable skylanes. However, so many people actually walked on the ground that was covered in either duracrete or clay tiles. Far above them, an intricate network of transparisteel tubes laid the tracks for trains that ferried people across the city and even beyond.

But what stood out the most were in the intricate pieces of metal art dotting every intersection of the city. Some were smaller than her and sat on small podiums, others were so big that she had to tilt her head until she got a crick. And they were all made from random metal scraps – screws, bolts, girders, brackets, wire and the like – welded together in spiralling, woven or brick bond patterns.

And the sounds were also different here. It was more of people talking and walking than of speeders zooming.

When they had made it down a few roads, Karina herded them into a quieter street lined with cobblestones and clustered buildings with some greenery strewn about, away from the shuttle they were to take for the Academy.

She then led them to a building painted a soft pastel pink and held the glass door open. When they looked at her, she just smiled and nudged both of them inside. “You didn’t have breakfast yet”, she said by way of explanation, “And I don’t think you’ll quite enjoy the food served in the cafeteria.”

Karina had taken them to a small café that was small and homey. A dark wood counter with a black stone top ran along the left wall of the café and round five tables, each with four chairs, lined the right side. At the far back, right next to the counter was a door that probably led into a kitchen.

A Human woman with long blonde hair walked out as soon as she heard the bell at the entrance ring.

“Karina!” she called out in greeting when she saw the older girl. “You’re here early.”

“Good morning, Hev’n”, Karina replied as she ushered the stools at the counter, “These two haven’t had breakfast yet. So I thought I’d bring them by.”

The woman looked at them both. Ahsoka offered a small smile while Obi-Wan bowed and offered his greeting. “They the mini-Jedi you were talking about?”

“Hev’n!”

The blonde woman threw her head back and laughed. “Come on, sit down. I’ve just started my batch of pancakes.”

“Ahsoka is a carnivore.”

“Ah, then my special eggs too!”

“Thank you, Hev’n”, Karina replied and then turned to them once the woman was back in her kitchen. “I come here to study often. It’s a lot less busy than the library and the food is great!”

“Uh, Ms Karina…” Obi-Wan began hesitantly, “Thank you for taking care of us. But I was wondering how Master Jinn is…”

The older girl’s expression softened. “We got a comm from the med center last night. Master Jinn woke up about an hour after you left but he was still disoriented. So the doctor on call decided to keep a watch on him to make sure he didn’t suffer a concussion or any other adverse effects. He should be released in another few hours.” She then spoke a little softer.

“Oh.” Obi-Wan muttered.

“Hey, chin up”, Karina crooked a finger under his chin and gently tipped his head up, “You’re Master will be fine. You can meet him as soon as we get there.”

Neither Padawan had anything to say to that, but that didn’t matter because the food arrived later. Hev’n bustled up to them like a storm, easily holding two plates and balancing another on the underside of her right forearm. She deposited the plates of pancakes and fruit in front of the two humans while the plate of eggs and sausages was placed in front of the Togruta.

“Sorry I couldn’t give you much of a choice”, she said as she passed them a few syrups and sauces. “I haven’t yet prepared much for the day.”

“That’s quite alright, Ms Hev’n”, Obi, ever the gentleman, reassured, “This is delicious. Thank you.”

Ahsoka hummed in delight at the slightly sweet, slightly sour tang of the sausages that flooded her mouth when she dug in.

And then the conversation moved to other things. The Padawans learnt that Karina had a talent for art, and she spoke in length about various techniques. Hev’n pointed that some of the paintings of landscapes were thanks to the older girl. And Ahsoka and Obi-Wan spoke of their daily routines, giving them a glimpse of the Jedi life.

Of course, the discussion about the Life Force and the Cosmic Force went completely over their heads.

“Well, it’s like the Life Force is biological energy and the Cosmic Force is gravity and other such things?” Obi-Wan stuttered through his explanation. To be fair, they were philosophies that were hard to understand even for Jedi Masters.

“I have so many questions”, Karina replied with a laugh.

*****

Qui-Gon emerged from his meditative strance to see the two young Padawans seated on hard plastoid chairs by his bedside. They were both peering up at him with eager and concerned blue eyes.

“Master, how are you feeling?” Obi-Wan asked first. Ahsoka just tracked every little movement with a razor focus.

“I’m feeling better”, he said with a smile, trying to send reassurance through the Force.

“Master, what did you see yesterday?” Ahsoka asked rather bluntly.

“See?” he asked, puzzled even as Obi-Wan glared at her.

“What did you see, Master?” she asked impatiently.

“I didn’t see anything Padawan”, he replied slowly, “But I felt… a darkness in the Force.” His Padawan startled quite badly, but Ahsoka, who had sensed darkness before, didn’t even flinch. “Stay vigilant and be careful, young ones”, was all he could say.

Ahsoka nodded, as if that had answered something, before standing up. “I think I’ll be in the library, Master. I’ll comm you once I’m done.”

“Wait”, he tried to say, but the young Togruta was already out of sight.

“Something happened last night, Master”, Obi-Wan answered his unasked question. And when he turned to the boy, he continued, “But she won’t say what it is.”

Before he could ask any further questions, there was a knock on the door frame. Master and Padawan looked up to see the Academy’s prefect standing awkwardly at the edge of the room.

“Pardon me”, she said with a soft smile, “I would like to ask if you are well enough to meet the Dean, Master Jinn.” Her presence in the Force was pure and bright, blindingly so, like a beacon of light.

“Yes, I’m fine now”, the Master replied, “If you could spare me a few minutes, I will meet with him.”

*****

The library was very quiet as most of the students were attending their classes. Only a few students milled about, either studying or completing their assignments. A few of those students looked at her with looks ranging from curiosity to disapproval.

But none of that mattered to her as she sat in front of a terminal in a quiet corner by the window. There were two articles open on her screen. One showed a picture of a giant feline creature that had boney spines coming out of its back and shoulders – a dire-cat The other showed the picture of a little smaller, but not by much, feline that looked like a miniature akul with its pointed ears and lean build. However, it was sandy coloured and was said to have venomous claws.

Both of them were ambush predators.

And the one creature she saw yesterday was definitely the sand panther.

_“Well, students have been getting attacked by a wild beast. We think it’s either a dire-cat or a sand panther.”_

If it were either of the beasts attacked, then it would have been to kill.

Although, she supposed it made sense that the students were probably so frightened and hurt themselves in their attempt to get away.

That brought to question about what had happened to Rae Tate. It was obvious that the girl was mauled, but she had been found alone. A hungry beast would have dragged her away.

A hand on her head brought her out of her thoughts.

She tipped her head back to see Saru standing behind her and staring at the screen.

“So, you saw her too”, she stated, being careful to keep her voice to just above a whisper. She then pulled the chair from the terminal next to her and plopped down, “And you figured out that none of this made sense.”

There were many implications in Saru’s choice of words, she knew. It was like one of Master Yoda’s puzzles. Saru implied that she had seen the beast, that she hadn’t been attacked. That she had had the same thoughts that Ahsoka just had. But the one question Ahsoka decided to ask was the one that confused her most. “Her?” Ahsoka whispered back.

“Yeah”, she confirmed, “She looks like a girl, doesn’t she?”

She then scrolled down the page about the sand panthers. “Albino sand panthers are very rare. They are sandy because their coats help them blend into the environment of rocky mountains that are their natural habitat.” She then looked at Ahsoka when she spoke next. “There are no mountains here for at least three hundred clicks, in fact, there are no natural forests for just as much distance. Not to mention, our girl is at least three feet taller than an average sand panther.”

That was when Ahsoka remembered another aspect of the beast. “How many times did you see her?” she asked Saru.

“More times than I can count.”

“Did any investigation of the incidents give clues about a sand panther?” Ahsoka pressed.

Saru frowned. “What type of clues?”

“Did you see her leave any paw prints, claw marks, anything behind?”

The older girl’s golden-brown eyes widened in realisation. “No, I never saw any paw prints when I saw her. That was why the investigators ruled out an animal attack. There was simply no evidence to indicate that it really was an animal.”

“Until Rae Tate”, Ahsoka said grimly.

“Until Rae Tate”, Saru agreed.

They stared at each other for a full minute, trying to figure out what this would imply.

The sound of a bell snapped them both out of their thoughts. Saru looked out of the window into the forest beyond. “I need to get back to class”, she said reluctantly before she got up from her chair.

Ahsoka watched her walk away as she focused her sensed on the girl. Her left arm was still bandaged and she walked with a slight limp. But what stood out was her presence in the Force. It was bright, but there was a spider web of darkness entwining it, holding the light back.

“Ahsoka”, a deep, familiar voice called out to her.

The young Togruta nearly jumped out of her seat. She spun around to see Master Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan standing behind her. Master Qui-Gon was looking at Saru who had just left before he turned to her.

She could easily see his line of thought. “Master…” she began.

“Come along, little one”, he interrupted her, “There is much we need to talk about.”

*****

The forest wasn’t really quiet, which was to be expected of even the artificial ones. If one focused hard enough, one could hear the chirps of birds and insects, the sound of scampering feet of small animals, even a few muffled cries. And when one focused harder, one could hear the sound of leaves rustling in the soft breeze. _Psithurism_ Master Sinube had called it.

“Woah!” The exclamation was whisper soft and couldn’t have been picked up by Human ears. But Ahsoka heard it loud and clear.

She turned to face the person who made that sound.

Karina’s eyes were focused on the three rocks floating in the air in slow circles above her open right hand.

“Oh, um”, Ahsoka faltered. The rocks fell a little before she used the Force to levitate them again, “This is… uh… a thing we do. We use the Force to move objects…”

“Amazing”, Karina breathed. It was only then that she noticed that something in the older girl lightened. Ahsoka just knew that her smile was no longer as tight as it had been before, that her violet eyes were no longer as dull and that her shoulders had drooped a bit.

“Are you ok?” she asked the question she should have asked before.

“Huh?” the Human girl blinked a little, “Oh, I’m fine. Don’t mind me. Just stressed with everything going on, what with the exams coming close and some additional prefect duties.” Then she smiled down at the girl. “What are you doing?”

“Master Jinn asked us to patrol around the Academy a bit to see if we could find the beast again.” Master Jinn had technically asked her and Obi-Wan to sense for the presence of the dark side. Neither of them knew about the beast.

“Beast…?”

“Hmm, it was a sand panther.” She had no idea why she said that at the moment, why her first instinct was to distort facts a bit. “The one that mauled Ms Tate.”

“What?”

“Don’t worry, we’ll catch it in no time at all!” she beamed at the older girl.

“If you say so…” Karina replied a little hesitantly. Her eye then tracked something behind Ahsoka. The Togruta turned a bit and looked followed the gaze to see a tall lanky orange-haired boy walking toward the building with a few other students.

“Anyway, I was wondering if you would like to get lunch with me”, Karina asked before Ahsoka could think about anything, “I was asked Obi-Wan too, but he said he would get it with Master Jinn.” She then visibly faltered a bit though. “It’s ok if you don’t want to though. Master Jinn is in the courtyard…”

“That’s alright”, Ahsoka interrupted, “I’m actually a bit hungry.”

When they were seated in the same corner of the cafeteria as the day before, Karina sighed. She was picking at her egg rolls. “It really is a shame that it’s a sand panther attacking people”, she looked visibly upset, “They are beautiful animals, but if this one will probably be put down.”

“On Shili, there are akul”, Ahsoka said softly after she swallowed her piece of meatloaf, “They are the apex predators and they are really dangerous to Togrutas. Even with all our advancements, they still manage to decimate whole towns. Some smugglers took some of the akul off planet, thinking they could keep them in zoos. But the result was always the same.”

Karina’s eyes followed her fingers as she touched her akul tooth headdress. “In the olden days, any Togruta who hunted an akul was considered worth a thousand warriors. They would skin the beast and use its hide as a tapestry. The teeth were used to make headdresses, a sign of courage and glory. So several hunting parties used to go out to hunt akul. Very few rarely returned from those hunts, sometimes the entire party was wiped out.” Her Padawan braid laid heavily against her lek. “Then civilisations advanced and the hunts fell out of favor. However, even with blasters and rifles, they were still dangerous. That is why we still hold hunts to put down akul that are sighted near cities and towns.”

“What does an akul look like?”

“It looks just like a san panther, but it’s about twice as big and is orange.”

“And you killed one?”

“Yeah, I kinda made it run into a transformer and fried it. The hide was too burnt for a tapestry, so I had to make do with the teeth”, she replied with a crooked smile.

*****

“So you find any other clues yet?” Saru asked as she plopped down beside her.

“You’re not part of the investigation, so why should I tell you?” Ahsoka shot back, refusing to turn to look at the girl, choosing to stare at the Academy building instead. It really was huge, perhaps as big as the Jedi Temple in Coruscant, and was covered in glass.

Just how much of glass was used couldn’t be emphasised enough. Why did they want so much glass anyway?

“I am a student of this Academy and my life may be in danger of a ghostly beast”, the Human smirked, “Is that enough?” Her smirk grew wider when Ahsoka snorted. “Where are the big Jedi and baby Jedi anyway?”

“The big Jedi is meditating with his Padawan. The baby Jedi is right here, next to you”, she replied petulantly.

“Sorry to say this sweetheart”, Saru patted her head between her montrals, “But you don’t seem like a Jedi. You’re more like a…” She placed an index finger on her chin and looked up at the clear blue sky as though she were thinking hard. “A cute and weird little cryptid.”

“Cryptid”, the Togruta squawked indignantly, “Why would I be a cryptid?”

“Well, you are unique and mysterious”, the older girl grinned. At Ahsoka’s unimpressed glare, she continued, “You didn’t tell your friends about the panther, did you?”

That made the younger of the two freeze and look away.

“Hey, I may not understand your logic, but I get it”, the older one said quietly. Ahsoka looked at her from the corner of her eye. “Karina used be like that, you know? She used to get gut feelings about things. She knew what to tell and what not to. She always knew someone was around the corner every time we played pranks or if someone was talking bad about us.”

“Sounds like you used to be friends. What happened?”

“Time”, Saru replied and this time she was the one who looked away, peering at the neatly trimmed hedges that lined the courtyard while playing with the bandages on her left arm, “And people. We were top performers in our school and when we got into Kevätlaakso, the competition got tougher. Karina always wanted to be on top, be the prefect, be the model student, so she had to work thrice as hard. And we just drifted apart.”

Ahsoka didn’t know what to say, so she remained quiet.

“I hate this place!” the girl suddenly declared. There was something dark twisting in her, something that made Ahsoka want to hold on to her and cry with her. “I hate it so much. Just look at it!” Saru gestured rudely to the building in front of her as she visibily fought back her tears. “Made of glass, just like every other person here! One knock is all it takes to just topple and break! And they try to make me break as well!” She heaved a great gulp of air, the shadow in her twisted. “It’s like you are under scrutiny every minute, like they want to see every part of you at every moment. You can’t be alone anywhere here. And no matter what to do, you are always found wanting. If I had a chance, I would burn this place to the ground!”

That made Ahsoka flinch. She scooted away and watched as the older girl buried her face in her hands, heaving deep breaths and trembling as she forced herself not to cry. The darkness reared its head but then slowly faded until it was mute shadow in the background.

Ahsoka slowly scooted closer until she was almost sticking to the older girl. She placed her hand on her shoulder and just stayed quiet.

“I’m sorry”, Saru said after a minute of silence, “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean that. I’m sorry.”

“I know”, Ahsoka replied softly.

Time passed slowly as they sat there quietly for a while, just two girls in an open courtyard, looking at the various clouds drifting in the sky. It was the first real moment of peace that Ahsoka had felt since she had left the Jedi temple.

However, that moment was interrupted when her comlink beeped. “Ahsoka here”, she answered the call.

“Padawan, where are you?” Master Jinn’s worried voice sounded from the device.

“I’m in the courtyard, Master.”

“Good, that means your closer”, he replied, “Get to the med center now. Freya Asketill was attacked.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... I'm guessing some of you have figured out what's going on?
> 
> I didn't follow the strict structure of a whodunit plot, so it should be fairly easy to guess!
> 
> For clues, look at the tags.
> 
> P.S: No matter how much I proofread, I still end up with so many typos. Please bear with me for two more days. I'll get right to fixing them all up!


	14. I wish I may, I wish I might

_In the waning sunlight that swept across the cityscape, she reached out to them. Her senses blurred, lines and colours blending into a messy child’s painting in her eyes and sounds ricocheting and echoing unbearably in her montrals. Her hand reached out, calling them to her, calling the Force to her, calling any who were willing to listen even as her muscles burned and her bones ached._

_There were screams and blaster fire and so many presences clambering for control and the burning embers of cauterised flesh…_

_“No”, she tried to scream but it came out sounding like a pitiful whisper._

_“No”, she tried again as she was carried away._

_These were her men, her brothers, who had placed themselves like an impenetrable fortress between her and the approaching end._

_“No”, she called out louder as the ramp slid up and the door fell shut._

The Kevätlaakso Academy’s building was five storeys tall, about a standard kilometer long and a quarter of a standard kilometer wide. It was made of glass with only a skeleton of durasteel. Its terrace had three spiralling spires placed on it, all made of durasteel that glinted under the Corellian sun, and a railing made of durasteel spikes.

It was hideous and the more time he spent here, the more agitated it made him.

The building also had exterior lights that were embedded along the edge on the lower surface of triangular duracrete bars that protruded from the terrace. The bars were about four feet long and a foot wide at the base.

He found Ahsoka lying on her back at the pointed end of one of the bars hanging far above the ground. Her hands were clasped on her stomach and her eyes were focussed on the sky above. Her head was big for the tip of the triangle and her Padawan braid and side lekku dangled lazily off the sides.

“I’m sorry I keep running away”, she said when she sensed him. She was still looking up at the sky.

He seated himself on the duracrete and leaned back against the railing with his back to her. “Don’t worry about Obi-Wan. I’ve given him a task that’ll keep him occupied for a while”, he told her. “Sometimes there are things you just need to do.”

“Is that why you smile like that sometimes?”

“Hmm?”

“You know, when you don’t want to smile, but you still do. It seems like it’s frozen onto your face.”

That made Qui-Gon frown in thought. “There are times when you need to be polite, young one, especially when there are those that keep telling or doing things that annoy you to no end. Your reaction can be used as a weapon against you.”

Ahsoka was silent. Above them, a bird cried out. Qui-Gon looked up to see it silhouetted by the bright sky as it gracefully glided about in lazy circles.

“You sound like a senator I think I know”, Ahsoka finally replied. She was still looking up at the bright sky. “When I saw him, he was tall, maybe even as tall you, Master. I think he told me more or less the same thing.”

Qui-Gon’s frown deepened at her words. She was too young to have met any senators, even as Yoda’s Padawan. And she spoke as if from memory, a fond one at that. “Then he was a very wise man”, he replied carefully.

“It still hurts when you do that, you know?”

“What?” he asked in genuine condition.

“All we want is to make our Masters proud”, she said softly, “But when our Masters smile at us like that, when that smile is just empty and blank, it becomes a lie, and we end up feeling that we have disappointed them, no matter how much we try. And so we start smiling that empty smile too, hoping to convince our Masters that we aren’t upset, that there is nothing wrong, that we’ll just pick ourselves up and try harder and that it did not hurt us at all. Because we want our Masters to be proud of us, to not think of us as anything other than worthy. And so we all start pretending just like them.” She then reached out to the sky with her right hand. “I don’t think I want to smile like that.”

“I suppose none of us do”, he readily agreed. “Now tell me what you were introspecting about all the way up here.”

“You hate it here”, she stated it like a fact, “So do I and Obi. And probably everyone who comes here.”

“What did you sense?” he probed.

“You wanted me to find the darkness here”, the Padawan supplied, “Just the way I did all those other times. What do you think about the darkness here, Master?”

The newly promoted Jedi Master realised that he needed to put more thought into the reply he would give. “The darkness seems to be everywhere here, every corner we turn, every empty space. But it also seems to have a definitive form, which you apparently saw.”

“I did”, she agreed easily, “But that senator? He told me that the Jedi have a bad habit of simplifying complex psychological issues, watering it down into words that make sense but still doesn’t acknowledge any of the nuances. I’m not completely sure of what he meant by that, but I may have an idea now.”

He turned his head just enough to look at her from the corner of his eye. “Sometimes I just know things”, she continued, “Not like a vision, but like a memory. Like something I lived through, not saw. And sometimes I don’t even realise that it really isn’t something I should be able to know.”

“That is quite a talent.”

“Maybe. But now I just know, that the darkness we are looking for, we won’t find it this way.”

“Then how are we supposed to look for it?”

“It’s like you weren’t paying attention to the conversation we just had.”

*****

He found the prefect sitting on a plastoid chair by her mother’s bedside. She looked too tired for her age, dark bags lined her eyes and there was distinct slouch to her posture. Her presence that had radiated so brightly was a little muted now.

She looked up as he approached and once she saw him she sprang to her feet. “Master Jinn, how may I help you?” she asked.

“Nothing as of the moment, young one”, he replied as he stood by the woman’s beside and looked down at her. He folded his arms through the sleeves of his cloak, a habit of his when he wanted to think. “How is your mother?”

“She’s stable now”, the girl replied, looking down at the woman covered in more bandages and tubing than anyone would be comfortable with. “She is safe to go into a bacta tank, so she’ll be transferred to a hospital soon.”

“Hmm.”

It was quiet for a while, the only sound in the room being the soft whisper of the ventilator and beeps of the monitor.

“Ms Asketill, perhaps you could fetch Ahsoka and Obi-Wan for me? They have a habit of finding trouble wherever they go.”

The girl opened her mouth to probably say something, but then she seemed to change her mind and shook her head. “Of course, Master Jinn.”

*****

Ahsoka was staring at the board displaying the year’s listings when Karina approached. The older girl’s heart twisted when she knew what the younger one would see.

A third ranking for a supposed model student.

Rae and Ivar had scored much better than her. Her mother had not been pleased…

But then she shook off the thought. It wasn’t what she should be worried about now. The Togruta looked at her from the corner of her eye as Karina came to stand by her before they both turned to the board.

“Will you please find the beast that did this?” she asked softly after taking in a deep breath.

“Do you want me to?” Ahsoka asked.

The Human felt the cold needles prickle her skin before turning into led that settled in her stomach. She looked at Ahsoka with abject disbelief. Something smarted in at what the girl said.

“What is that supposed to mean?” she growled lowly.

Ahsoka refused to look at her. “Were you angry with your mother?’

Karina started at that question. She knew her expression was twisting, but she managed to wrangle it in time and smooth it over. “We had our differences”, she said slowly, feeling like she was trying to convince herself, “My parents care, they always have.”

“But?” Ahsoka prompted.

“They think a lot of what I do is stupid”, she admitted.

“I’m sorry your parents suck”, the younger girl said bluntly.

“They don’t suck”, she nearly snapped, “They are nice people, they always keep telling me that they are proud of what I have achieved.”

“But not that they are proud of you…”

She didn’t know why, but those words left her feeling vindicated. And before she knew it, she was spilling all the thoughts she never knew she had. “I know I shouldn’t let it get to me, but every now and then, they say things that really hurt. Like how I’m so stupid for not scoring the highest or how I don’t put enough effort into anything I do or that I won’t be able to achieve anything because I am busy frolicking around. It hurts, but because they are so happy with everything I do the rest of the time, I feel like I’m being whiny or something.”

“Is that why you don’t talk to your friends.”

She thought about Saru, who suddenly started snapping at her and didn’t do well in school and just gave up on her life.

She thought about Ivar, who only spoke to her when she was helping him but turned around and left for others when he got what he wanted. At least Saru was openly honest about what she thought. What Ivar did, speaking like that about her when she wasn’t listening, only seeking her when he needed help with his classes and openly flirting with others. To think that she liked…

She clamped down on all that thought.

She felt a flash of irritation before she let out a sigh and forced herself to calm down. “I can’t meet my friends because I don’t have time. I need to take care of my responsibilities as a prefect and we have a lot to study and—“

“Do you ever feel like your reciting those statements when you speak?” Ahsoka interrupted her.

Karina looked up about to retort when suddenly a chill swept over her senses. Ahsoka was suddenly looking around frantically.

 **ᶫ᷉᷄L** **᷊᷂᷂᷿᷿᷆᷆᷆᷇᷇᷇ᶤ᷂᷂᷂ ~~o~~** ** ~~᷿᷇᷆᷇᷆᷆~~** ~~ﹴ~~ ** ~~᷿᷿ό̬̬̬᷿᷆᷆ᶤ~~ k** **᷂᷊᷊᷿᷆᷄᷉ ~~ᶫ Ḁ᷉᷄᷄~~** ﹴ **᷿᷿†̬᷿** **˻̞̞ ~~m~~** ** ~~᷿᷄᷄~~** **Ə᷿᷿᷄˻**

 _What?_ she thought helplessly. _Who are you?_

 **¬᷄Ґ᷿̞** **͚ ~~ą᷿᷄ṃ͚~~ ** **҄ r** **̪̫̬̥̠̉꙽i** **̡̡̡͚̪̌ ~~ĝ~~ h** **͚̌Ⱦ h** **̨̥̤̜̫̫̫̃̑̑̈є̜͚͖̑̃r** **͚͖̪̈e** **̷̬̽̓**

 _Where?_ she looked around even as a piercing whistle echoed in her ears. A sharp sting of pain passed through her head, growing in intensity by the second.

“Karina”, Ahsoka called out frightfully as she held her by the elbows. 

**˩W̸̬̪͚̌ђ͍͙͙͙ͨͭͯ͛͝y̷͒͢ ~~d͎͛͌͌͆o͚͓ͦ͒n͓͚͓ͥͭ͌’ϯ ͦ͛y̷͍ͦ͛o͚͙͎ͦ͒͌~~υ̘̙ͧ̅ l̷o̷̻̽ö̺̼̰k̵̰̲ ᵄⱥ͎͙̅͌t̰ͧ̈ m̼̊ͫ ~~e͓ͤ̿?̷~~**

The pain drained away slowly, her vision reoriented and suddenly everything was bright and clear.

“What happened?” Karina asked her a little hysterically.

There was another stab of sharp cold in Karina’s mind but before she could think of it, Ahsoka was taking off down the corridor. “I’m sorry, I have to go!”

*****

Qui-Gon rounded the corner of the corridor just in time to see a gigantic panther-like beast pounce out of the shadows. He tackled an orange haired boy and a brown haired girl standing in its way. All three hit the glass floor hard even as the beast landed and skidded to a stop a little ahead of them.

The students and teachers in the classrooms lining the corridor started panicking. He could feel it in the Force, it was a quick build up from disbelief to fear to outright horror right as the screaming started.

He flicked his wrist and all the open doors slid shut, startling quite a few whist making it so that only the two adolescents behind him were the only ones he needed to worry about. Although, considering that the beast literally emerged from the shadows, as if the shadows themselves had given it life, he wasn’t sure how safe they all really were.

He managed to roll on to his feet in time to see the beast stoop to a low crouch, all the while snarling viciously at him and bearing its fangs. Its golden eyes gleamed poisonously while the cacophony of chaos grew around him. Many of the students had lined up against the glass walls to witness what was going down.

The beast reared back on its flank and sprung forth on powerful hind legs.

The Jedi Master threw both hands out in retaliation. The Force surged at his command and the beast was blown back until it hit the wall at the end of the corridor hard.

Unfortunately, the beast seemed quite resilient, because it was back on its paws in a fraction of a second and was bounding toward them.

The Jedi’s hands reached for his lightsaber. However, before he could even unhook it, a shadow leapt over him.

In a blur of motion, Ahsoka crashed into the pouncing beast with drop kick that caught it in the chest. The blow was so hard that it sent the beast flying back. This time it seemed was ready though as it dug its claws into the glass to brake. Rugged scratch lineswere left in its wake while diamond dust was thrown up. The sound of claws on glass pierced though all their ears.

But the Togruta wasn’t done, her foot had barely touched the floor before she was off again in a seamless pounce. This time she landed on the beasts shoulders and, in a move that showcased her predatory nature, she bent forward and bit the beast in its neck.

“Ahsoka”, he heard Obi-Wan’s voice yell from somewhere behind him.

The beast roared and reared back, throwing its head up in agony. It jumped around and tried hard to shake the Togruta off, but Ahsoka held fast. She dug both her feet and her hands into the beasts fur even as her jaw tightened around the beast even as it trashed and roared.

Finally, after a little more trashing, the beast rolled and threw the young girl of its back. It turned to them again, and with a final snarl, bounded away, hit the wall and melted into the shadows.

Obi-Wan was at Ahsoka’s side in an instant. The shock of what he witnessed caused Qui-Gon to be a bit slower, but he soon reached the young Padawans as well.

“What were you thinking?” Obi-Wan yelled even as he checked her for any injuries, “Why is it that your first instinct when you find a huge unknown creature is to attack it?”

Ahsoka opened her mouth to answer.

“And don’t tell me it’s because you’re a Togruta!”

Ahsoka clamped her mouth shut.

“I concur with Obi-Wan, young one”, Qui-Gon decided to join the conversation, “What were you thinking?”

At that Ahsoka blinked at him, looked at someone behind him before turning back to him. "I think Karina hurt her shoulder."

*****

The dread she had been feeling for a while, the nausea in the back of her throat and the burning headache, all of them, suddenly grew tenfold. She clutched the point where her neck met her left shoulder.

She looked at the students either still peering through the glass or shuffling about in confusion and awe. She looked at the teachers desperately trying to maintain order. She looked at Ivar and one of his friends as they shakily got to their feet. She looked at the Jedi at the far corner.

She looked at the young Togruta who had endeared herself to her in such a short time.

And in her place she saw a great horned and winged beast that made her look away.

She turned to her left and caught her reflection in the glass.

Poisonous gold eyes gleamed back at her.

The realisation crept up on her slowly, coldly. The world twisted around her as the air swirled into winds that slowly picked up speed.

She had known, a part of her had always known. She had tried to keep those thoughts away, she had tried not to be a bad person.

The glass she was looking in cracked with a loud snap.

She flinched.

Her shoulder hurt.

“No”, she whispered.

Ahsoka looked at her with brilliant blue eyes. And that was all the condemnation she needed.

So she turned around and ran.

 _It’s me_ , she thought hysterically, _it’s me!_

All the while clutching the spot where Ahsoka had bit.

She did not see the sienna orange hand reaching out to her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am of the firm opinion that Anakin Skywalked developed Dissociative Identity Disorder because of his laundry list of traumas (some of which are of his own making) and that manifested a little differently due to the Force. His fall to the dark side felt sudden from a Jedi's perspective. We as an audience just had the benefit of story-telling omniscience.
> 
> I guess I wanted to explore the perspective where such a horrifying even felt sudden when there were obvious signs of a steady build up that the so-called responsible adults just flat out ignored...


	15. Let my demons rest tonight

**10 years ago…**

The plastoid cube on the table shook a little.

She narrowed her eyes, stuck her tongue out of the corner of her mouth and focused on it again. _Move_ , she silently commanded.

The cube jerked in response and moved about an inch to right.

 _Move_ , she willed with all her might.

The cube started trembling, shaking and moving just that much more.

_Move move move move move move move!_

Finally, the cube slowly floated off and above the table. And after a silent nudge, it started rotating in midair. But after sometime, her eyes started to feel heavy and the cube dropped onto the soft carpet with nary a sound.

Her lips curled into a tired smile.

She just needed to practise.

It took her close to two months (She was counting, she was five now, she could count!), but she was able to keep the cube floating for a minute (She could count seconds and time too!). She was now also able to move bigger toys and even her toy basket, even though she would get tired soon.

It didn’t matter though. If she was practising every day, then surely she will get better.

But first, she needed to show it to her mama and papa.

“Mama”, she called out as she ran into the living room, “Mama, look.” She held out her hand and made the toy cube sitting on it float. “See, I can do magic!”

She didn’t notice the silence. She smiled because Mama would too. She would call her a good girl and say that she was smart for making the cube move and then they would practice and Mama would be happy and…

Her head jerked to the side and she was left wide-eyed. Pain soon blossomed on her left cheek and tears welled up in her eyes unwillingly. Dimly, she noted that the toy had fallen to the floor with a loud clack.

She raised a hand to her cheek and looked up at Mama.

“Don’t do that”, Mama yelled, “Don’t you dare do that! Haven’t I told you not to do those things or say something that isn’t true or…”

She wanted to step back, she wanted to run. But Mama only hit her when she did bad things. “I’m sorry, Mama”, she whimpered. A second later, she scrunched up her face and flinched when she realised her mistake.

“Stop crying!” Mama yelled again.

She forced her hiccups down, she forced the tears back. She was a strong girl, she was a brave girl, she would not cry.

“I told you, didn’t I?” Mama said in a softer voice, “If you do those things, they will notice. And they will come and take you away. Do you want to be taken away?”

“No.”

“No what?” Mama repeated.

“No, Mama, I don’t want to leave”, she tried to say and curled up when her voice warbled again.

She could feel Mama’s eyes on her. She could hear Mama’s fast breaths. She could see Mama’s anger. More than that, she could sense Mama’s fear deep inside her.

Mama was brave, but **they** scared Mama. Which means that they were very bad and very strong and very scary.

“Come here, baby”, Mama cooed and pulled her into a hug.

Mama was angry because she was scared. Mama was angry because Karina had scared Mama.

“Please don’t let them take you from us”, Mama said.

And Karina promised that she wouldn’t do magic anymore.

*********

She didn’t know how long she ran. She had no idea she could run like that anymore, not since she gave up all after school athletics to make time for her studies. Her lungs burned, her muscles ached and she was drenched in sweat, but when she looked up, she was home.

The sprawling expanse of her estate gardens and the mansion in the middle loomed before her. Its cold stone walls and the dimly lit interiors were the familiarity she sought. And in them, her cozy room stuffed to the brim with her books and dolls were the comfort she needed.

She made it past the gardens and through the door when she sensed that there was no one home. So she ignored all the droids in the house, ran up the stairs and into her room. The door slid shut behind her, cutting her off from the chaos outside. She leaned back against the door and slid down to the floor.

Her room was as silent as it always was. The bed was made, all her learning aids and tools were arranged neatly in their respective spots, her books were lined on the shelves in the order she wanted. There was not a speck of dirt anywhere.

Her legs, her back, her chest, her whole body ached. Her heart pounded relentlessly in her chest and her head throbbed. Her eyes burned and ears rang.

 _What do I do?_ she asked helplessly, _What do I do? What do I do? What do I…_

A flash of silver fur and poisonous gold eyes.

She froze.

The panther prowled closer toward her.

**̸T** **̸͎̰̼̰͖͌͒h** **̰͖͓͓͓͒͌̿͋͋ ~~i~~** **~~͖͚͙̺̺͋͋͋ͧs~~ ** **~~̷͓͓̈́~~ ** **~~ʹi~~ ** **~~͖͚͚͛͒͐͆s~~ ** **~~̰̺̺͆͆~~ W** **͓̰͖͌̿͒h** **̵̻̮̮̮̈́o** **̶̹̻̻̼̾̾̂̂̚ y** **̴̤̤̮̰̼̼̼̻̻̈́̐͌ϙ̝̔̅̚u** **̲̗̗̽̽̽̽** **̸a** **̴̼̼̼͌r** **̴͖͖͍͒e** **͔͔͔͔ͤͤ**

_No…_

One paw was placed in front of another.

 **͛͡͵T** **͖̼̼ͯͤͭ͝͠h** **͍͙͙͐͐͐͐͌͜i** **̪̬̪̪̬͒͗s** **̨̪̫͌** **̶i** **͖͖͊s** **͕͔͔͋̿** **ώ̬̬̬͛͛͜h** **̨̨̨̪͌͛a** **̪̪͆t** **̴̤̤̥̥̉** **̷̪y** **̪̪̪͌͛o** **͕̼̫͒̐̑u** **͍̫̬͙͗̈́** ֶ **ꜻ** ֘֯ **r** ֧֧֦ **̃̃e** **̴̼̪̪̪̆̊̽**

_No._

Its burning eyes glared at her accusingly.

**̶L** **̴͉͉͎̼͌͌̈́o** **̷̺̳̲̪̪̈́̄̆o** **̶̨̥̫̼̆̚k** **̴̴͍͚͚ͣ̽͜** **͢a** **͇͖͖̱̟ͣ͌͆t** **̫̬̟̞̈́˾̉̊ y** **̴̰̰͚͂͌o** **͚̻ͦu** **͉͈ͧ͝r** **̮̮̯̽s** **̶͖͖͔͋͊͗ϵ͉͉̽l** **̵͟͞f** **͕̼ͤͤ**

_No!_

It’s hot breath fanned over her face.

ֵ **I** ֵֶָ֢ׄ֟֓ **ᴀ** ֶ **͇ͣ͞m** **̴͓͋͒͜** **˹Y** **̺̑ΘU** **ͧ˺**

“NO!” she screamed as she jumped back.

She went tumbling out the door that slid open. When she managed to get to her feet, she didn’t look at the beast in her room. She just ran.

She had made it down the staircase and was about to make her way out when she collided with a larger figure.

“No!” she screamed as she tried to free herself from the being trying to hold her down. She struggled but her wrists were caught, she tried to pull herself free but the grip was strong. She began screaming. Her blood pounded in her ears.

“Karina!” the voice finally reached her ears.

A very familiar voice.

The sound of it made her go slack.

“Karina?” the voice asked again, softer this time.

“Papa?” she asked back hopefully as she opened her eyes.

“Yes, Karina”, he replied, it’s me, “What’s wrong? Why are you here? Did something happen to your mother?”

“Papa…” she trailed off. Where should she start? Where could she start?

They had only asked one thing of her…

And she had failed…

“Papa, I’m sorry”, she wept, “Papa, I’m sorry… I couldn’t… I couldn’t control it. I’m sorry…”

Her father went quiet. “Control what, Karina?” he asked softly.

“My power”, she nearly shouted back, “I couldn’t control it. I’m sorry…”

She looked up to see her father looking at her with a stony face.

“What is your excuse?” he asked, “Is that why the Jedi are here?”

“I didn’t mean to…”

“Nobody asked what you meant to”, her father interrupted her, “You can control it. You just don’t want to.” He then looked at her strangely. “It’s because of them, isn’t it? You want to leave? Is that it? Is that why you did this?”

Cold dread settled in her. She looked at her father in horror and realised something that she should have known before.

He was scared of her.

“What? No, I don’t…” she tried to speak.

But it was too late. The strike was so fast, she hadn’t seen it coming.

“After everything we did for you, after everything we sacrificed for you, is this what you want?” he asked even as she held her throbbing cheek.

“No, Papa, I don’t…”

“Enough!” he roared.

An inhuman roar answered back.

And then a shadow pounced on him.

Karina watched, frozen in terror, as the beast bit down on her father’s left arm. He screamed in pain and terror. But the panther didn’t care. It just flung him at the stone wall. There was a sickening crunch and when he crumpled to the floor, it got ready to pounce again.

She wasn’t sure why, but at that moment, she got to her feet and ran out of her home.

*****

When he had run out of the speeder before it came to a stop and into the cold stone mansion, he expected the worse.

And the Universe had delivered.

The Sand Panther, as Ahsoka had so helpfully informed him of the species he was facing, was about to pounce on a blond, middle-aged man. He pushed out his hand just in time to fling the beast away with the Force. It hit the wall and dissolved into the shadows.

He turned to the man only to see that the Correllian Security Force had reached him first.

He quickly made his way back outside. The gardens on this estate were as still and stagnant as most of the places he visited here. But it was the quiet he needed to track down the girl. He closed his eyes and reached out into the Force.

He should also be contacting the Council about this immediately.

“Master Jedi?” the Dean who had accompanied them asked softly.

“I’ll find the girl, you needn’t worry”, he replied.

But when he looked at the Dean, he had a pointedly questioning look on his face. “And what will you do when you find her?” he asked.

Qui-Gon wanted to reply that the girl was a dark side user, and that she had fallen, that the fallen do not seek redemption. But the man wouldn’t understand that. He also wanted to tell the man that this was something the Jedi needed to do and that he shouldn’t be worrying about it now. He may have also wanted to tell the Force had called him here for this sole reason, to fix the darkness here.

But he said none of those things because a hoot interrupted him.

He looked up in time to see a very familiar Convor perched on the arch above the doorway to the mansion. And it looked at him with piercing green eyes.

There was a question in that gaze that he did not understand.

*****

“She’s like you, isn’t she?” Hev’n asked.

Ahsoka simply nodded. She was still getting over the fact that Hev’n had somehow charged into the school on a speeder just ten minutes after Karina ran away.

“That explains it then”, the older woman sighed as she sat down heavily on the bench outside. She then looked at where Obi-Wan had seated himself on a bench on the opposite side of the courtyard and sank easily into meditation. Ahsoka had slightly envied that about him.

Ahsoka did her best to remain quiet, Master Jinn had been particular about her not speaking to anyone until he got back, but she couldn’t help shooting questioning glances at the woman. Hev’n must have noticed because she looked back at her, sighed and patted the bench next to her.

“I’m her aunt”, the woman began as soon as Ahsoka sat down, “Or at least I would have been had my family not disowned me.” She looked up at the sky and something wistful passed through her brown eyes. “I was too disrespectful, too rebellious. I couldn’t fit into the mould my family created for me. So I had no place with them.”

The young Togruta felt a pang in her heart. It felt very familiar.

“My brother, on the other hand, was the perfect child, the perfect heir”, she continued, “He took to the traditions wonderfully. So I left to find my own path and he got married and tried to have children. Unfortunately, Karina was the only child he and his wife could have. So you can imagine what it did to them when they realised their heir was a potential Jedi and that she could be taken away.”

Ahsoka did not understand. How could traditions be more important than your child?

“I tried to see her once, but…” her voice started breaking when she continued, “I was so surprised when she walked into my café one day, I was so happy too. She was so small and shy… I thought my brother wanted me back, but she didn’t even know my name…”

“But Karina was the one who found her way to you”, Ahsoka replied.

Hev’n let out a shuddering breath.

“You’ll take her with you, right?” she asked hopefully. And those words pierced the young Togruta like an icicle. “You’ll teach her how to control her power, right? You’ll help her.”

Ahsoka looked away and felt Hev’n’s slow realisation in the Force. “She’s too old…” she forced the words out.

She felt more than saw the woman go stiff. “That’s it then?” she asked lowly, coldly, “You’ll just give up on her?”

Ahsoka didn’t reply and that seemed to be answer enough for the woman. Her presence in the Force grew murkier and she moved to get up…

… only to stop when a cinnabar-toned hand caught hers.

When she looked back, the Togruta wasn’t looking at her, choosing to stare down at the floor instead. “My Master always keeps telling me that the Force guides us.” And then the girl looked up to stare at the woman with clear blue eyes. “Karina found her way to you even when your brother did everything he could to keep her from learning about you. That has to mean something.”

*****

The sun had set when he approached the abandoned factory. This far into the industrial district, dotted with a wide array of lights, the sky looked dark and murky. Not a single star could be seen.

The factory was due for demolition, which was probably why it was abandoned and consequently had fallen to ruin. He looked at the cold, dilapidated structure of stone and steel. It was about eight storeys tall and more than three kilometers wide. Gigantic pipes wove their way in and out of the building like great snakes in the shadows. The long abandoned crates lay strewn about with the husks that had once been durasteel walls.

The enormous rusted doors let out high-pithched creaks as he used the Force to swing them open. The wind through the broken windows howled hauntingly. The factory proper was large and drafty with a roof lined with ferrocrete sheets and exposed rafters. The shadows danced gracefully in what little lighting was available.

There were scars on the floor. He could almost imagine the large vats, conveyor belts and heavy equipment that once filled this space on either side of where he stood. Now, all that were left were carcasses gleaming somberly at him in the low light from outside. His boots thudded heavily and loudly against the debris strewn floor, echoing through the darkness.

Suspended above him were a maze of mezzanine floors, catwalks, ventilation ducts and pipework that wound their way around the open space of the factory. There holes in several sections though, some so small his pinkie couldn’t fit through whilst others were wider than he was tall – no doubt victims of abandonment and age.

Every cubic inch of the air around him carried an unnatural amount of dust, humidity and mold.

He followed the trail of darkness in the Force. His senses got more muted the deeper he went into the bowels of the gloom. But that was the nature of the dark side, the closer you are to it, the less clear the world is, the more intoxicated you become. It was an addiction that was hard to break.

And he did feel remorse that one so young had fallen to it.

Because there she stood, under the light filtering through a cave-in in the ceiling, with her back to him. She stiffened when he got closer to her, but didn’t turn around to face him.

“Are you here to kill me?” she asked quietly.

Qui-Gon didn’t reply.

There was something unstable in her voice, in the way she stood.

“Or are you here to take me away?”

Dangerous.

His hand inched closer to his lightsaber.

“Mama always said that you would come to take me away…” she continued, “Even if I didn’t want to leave…”

The Jedi did not take a step further.

“But I think I would have gone with you…”

His fingers closed around the hilt of the saber.

“So”, she began and turned around to show that her right eye had turned a fiery gold. The shadows around her morphed and rose, “₩ῷֶh̴̦̰̼̐̃̃y̵͚͋̽͑͑ ~~d~~ ~~̶͖͓̪͛i~~ ~~̼̼̫̈́d~~ ~~͎̿~~ y̻̥̾̑̑̐θ͚̥̊ų̨̤̫̞ͧ̚͜͝ ~~n~~ ~~͉͆ot~~ ~~̟ͭ~~ ͼ͟͞O̢̔M̫ͫE̸ fֱֻ̘̙̑̐ǒֻֻ֭r̴֦͊֓ ˠM̴͚͖͖ͫ͊Є̲ͤ?”

*****

“You’re going after them, aren’t you?” Obi-Wan stated.

She turned to see that he had an odd look on his face. “Yeah”, she replied as she turned to start her run, “You’ll be able to find me.”

“Ahsoka”, he called her before she could take her first step, “May the Force be with you.”

“May the Force be with you too”, she replied before she started running.

*****

His senses melded together. He saw scents, he heard colours and he felt sounds. It made his head hurt, his very being screamed out in pain, unable to process the information passed through his nervous system.

Yet, it was no different from the first time he experienced it. And he had prepared for it. He pulled on his connection to the Force and the world righted itself just in time for him to see the shadows converge at the point he stood. He leapt back before they could meet him and landed several meters back.

However, the Force screamed a warning at him and he quickly dove out of the way. He landed in a crouch and looked up just in time to see the very space where he had previously stood twist and distort unnaturally – air exploding, ground ripping apart and the Force wailing.

“It’s too late for you now”, he said quietly.

But she heard him. “I guess it is”, she replied just as quietly, her countenance dull and dying, “But none of you ever gave me a chance, did you?”

The words disturbed him, but he couldn’t think of it anymore as the Force rang with a warning again.

This time he leapt up on to a mezzanine floor a little above him, dodged the distortion she caused there by running across the catwalk. Her eyes tracked him even as she stood unmoving and the walkways kept exploding right behind him in response. The ancient scaffold structures soon gave way under the brunt of the assault and started falling apart.

He startled as he lost his footing and barely had time to right himself and use the falling debris as springboards to land in a position about ten meters behind her. But he hit the ground running. His lightsaber’s hum as it ignited was drowned out by the sounds of the crashing debris. However, she still noticed him and turned to face him.

It was too late though.

He had leapt the final distance, lightsaber raised in a way that…

The world roared in response.

It was only through his connection to the Force that he received the warning in time. The moment his foot landed on the ground a couple of paces from her, he was jumping to the left, boots skidding across the duracrete as the space twisted on his trail again, leaving deep scars in the earth.

He no longer had time to think after that as a panther pounced on him soon after the shadows birthed it. It landed heavily on him and pinned him down. Crushing both of his arms underneath its massive paws, it bent down with its wide mouth open.

Luckily, his legs were free. And with the generous help of the Force, he was able to kick up at the beast’s abdomen with enough power to send it flying above and over him. He used the chance to roll to his feet and pounce at the beast in turn. It was barely getting its paws under it when the green blade of light scored a massive horizontal line along its side.

It cried in agony before falling apart and dissolving into shadows under the light of his blade.

Behind him, the girl let out a similar agonised cry. He turned in time to see her falling to her knees, clutching her side and snarling at him.

“GO AWAY!” she screamed at him.

The entire building started shaking as the violet in her left eye faded and lit up until it was churning a liquid gold like her other eye. Her hair billowed around her like menacing serpents rising from the deep. The walls, the rusted equipment, the floor, the scaffolds, every object in the factory started levitating in tandem.

“LEAVE ME ALONE!” the girl screamed again.

The floating objects around her suddenly started crumpling and curling into themselves, as if invisible hands were crushing it. The destruction began to spread outward from where she stood until even the walls, the support pillars, the very world itself started falling into themselves. Spider web cracks spread across the floor. Screens of dust, debris and glass ground into diamond dust rose into the air as the earth itself split open with a deafening roar.

And even though the shockwaves forced his hair and robes to billow backward, the Jedi Master stood unfazed through it all.

“I cannot do that”, he told her firmly, “You are out of control.”

Suddenly, the girl went still. The destruction around her stopped, debris and dust levitating harmlessly, as if time had come to a standstill.

And when she spoke, it was whisper soft, “Control?” She smiled a sickly sweet smile. “Control is the only thing I have ever been told to have. Maybe I want more than control.”

His widened in horror as only the area around him began to shimmer like a mirage. He leapt back yet again to see the area crumple again.

And unlike the wanton destruction of before, this was focussed and razor sharp.

It seemed the time for talking had ended.

He called the Force to him and his lightsaber sang in response. He then took off in a dead sprint, swerving out of the way when her eyes landed on his position.

She may have been powerful, but she was unskilled. Every one of her moves had been telegraphed, making it easy for him to predict her every attempt at crushing him. In a matter of seconds, he was gaining ground on her no matter what she did to push him back or just warp his physical body beyond recognition.

She must have realised it too, because her attacks started getting desperate as she tried to catch the man who was running to her left, leaping onto a catwalk above, landing on the floor again behind her to the right, sprinting to her other side before she could turn around…

 _He’ll kill me_ , the thought came to her in her desperation.

He was just a few meters in front of her now, causing her to stumble back.

_He’ll really kill me!_

She tripped on some of the loose rocks and fell on her behind. Even as she scrambled back, she saw him reach her, glowing green blade raised high above his head to cut her down.

 _I don’t want to die!_ she thought.

“NO!” she screamed.

And the world answered her call.

The entire factory, shook and shuddered before everything in it fell apart. The cracked walls cracked, the fissured floors, the abused walkways and the heated air, all of them exploded.

*****

Ahsoka was out of breath by the time she reached the place from where that horrible wailing originated. It was about five kilometers from the gate of the school and in a heavily industrialised area not far from the outskirts of the city. She could happily tell Master Yoda now that she had run fifteen klicks without a break.

The building in front of her looked like an old dilapidated factory of some sort, with broken durasteel fences, empty crates, broken windows cracked walls and rusted pipes.

She panted and bent over, resting her hands on her knees when the Force **screamed.**

Her hands went straight up to cover her montrals when the ground shuddered beneath her, causing her to fall. She looked up just in time to see the building shake, cracks running up its exterior walls. Whatever remained of the windows’ glass exploded and the entire structure started collapsing on itself.

The destruction lasted only a minute or so, but to her senses it had been stretched out to an eternity. The sounds were deafening, the sight terrifying and the Force screeched in agony against her montrals. She could do nothing but crouch down and cover her head with her arms as the shockwave hit her, followed by a cloud of dust and debris.

She didn’t know how long it took, but the world went quiet around her once again. She uncurled from her position on the ground and looked at the destruction mutely.

 _Master Jinn and Karina were still inside_ , she thought, but her body just refused to move.

Behind her, she could hear the roar of the speeders approaching.

And suddenly she was seeing something else.

_A warship, a leviathan that had fallen from the sky, now nothing more than a corpse – gutted and burned for people who didn’t care about it, about any of them._

_A grave before her, too many, yet not all…_

She snapped out of her trance when she saw the rubble move. A familiar, calloused had reached out from between the fragments of rebar, duracrete and ferrorcrete. And then a very familiar silhouette crawled out.

She ran up to him, climbing over piles of debris to reach him. Pieces of the broken materials tumbled around her and she nearly lost her footing more than once, but she did reach him in time to see another familiar silhouette standing a few meters behind him.

A silhouette that he hadn’t seen or sensed.

One with billowing dark hair and glistening gold eyes.

She didn’t think. Just used what little footing she could find to pounce on Master Jinn.

The man startled when her body collided with his. He lost his balance and he caught hold of her tightly as they went tumbling down. When they hit the ground her, Ahsoka immediately freed herself and rolled into a crouch before the Master.

“Karina, stop!” she called out.

The figure paused, hair settling back around her shoulders.

“Ahsoka?” she asked, her voice a low growl, “Are you here to kill me too?”

Ahsoka looked at the girl. She then looked at the destruction around her. She then turned back to the girl quietly. Her lightsabers hung heavily from her belt.

This was the girl who had been friendly to her, placed herself as a shield against the harsh words in front of her, who tried her best for everyone and had only wanted a friend in return.

“No”, she replied softly.

Karina looked startled. “Why not?” she yelled.

Ahsoka replied with words that came to her without any thought, words that were and were not her own. “Because I’m not a good Jedi, I won’t hurt you. You’re my friend.”

“I can’t control it anymore”, the older girl said, “I don’t think I can stop it from hurting anyone.”

“You don’t have to control it”, Ahsoka replied, “I think you have to let it go. I think it only hurts when it can’t go anywhere.”

Karina looked at her and then down at her feet. “Is it really that simple?” The gold in her eyes started fading to a soft silver.

“No, it isn’t”, the Togruta replied, “You’ll have to work hard and sometimes you’ll feel like giving up, like it’s not worth it. But if you keep trying, you will get there. I know you will.”

“They won’t forgive me”, she said.

“Maybe”, Ahsoka replied, “And maybe they will. But you still need to apologise, don’t you?”

The silver brightened until they were a blue.

“Ok”, the older girl replied.

And the blue turned to a very familiar soft violet.

*****

“You were planning to kill her?” Hev’n yelled at them.

“Well…” Master Jinn started, but…

“She assaulted people, yes”, the woman yelled again, “And it is a crime, yes. But she needs to be put on trial to get a fair sentence. Every circumstance needs to be examined. And she is a child, she needs to be rehabilitated.”

“Yes, but…”

“And you said that ‘the Force’ was involved”, she yelled again, “And as the foremost legal authority on that you should be giving clear statements on how it worked, gathering evidence and compiling the possible motives for why she used it subconsciously and so aggressively. You should be explaining to us what effect it had on her psyche and how much of it she could be held accountable for. You should be mapping out a clear path of recovery for her, as well as providing basis for her sentence.”

“You don’t understand…” Master Jinn began.

“And you don’t understand that you are neither Judge nor Jury!” The woman was panting even as she glared at them. “You had no right to decide that she deserved death!” And with her piece told, she stormed out of the medical room, head held high and golden blond hair swinging behind her.

The Corellian Security officer who had been standing awkwardly to the side looked at the man in the bed and the two thoroughly terrified children at his side. The officer then sighed, desperately wishing for a cup of caf. He cleared his throat to get their attention.

“Master Jedi, I was asked to debrief you…”

*****

Karina looked up when the bell rang. “Come in”, Saru answered from her bedside.

The door slid open and Ahsoka tumbled in, dragging Obi-Wan behind her. She nearly perked up at the sight of both children but then forced herself to calm when she remembered what she put them through.

Two more on the long list of people hurt by her.

“Hey, I can hear you beating yourself up”, Saru tapped her knuckles on the side of Karina’s head.

“Are you ok?” Ahsoka asked in worry.

“Yeah”, she forced herself to smile. The little Togruta was adorable. And the first time she had seen the little girl, she had been fascinated by a species that she had only seen on holos and then taken back by the exuberant energy the girl exhibited.

Now, she could appreciate the girl she had come to know.

“She’s being an idiot”, Saru began. And when Karina glared at her, the girl simply smiled back, “Look, you’ll be sent to therapy, you’ll probably be given community service and you’ll be under your aunt’s care. And well, your reputation in the school may have gone down the drain, but I honestly am not sure why what they think should bother you. Things will get better now.”

Both Ahsoka and Obi-Wan gaped at the short-haired girl.

“You can’t just say that”, the boy protested indignantly, “That’s callous!”

“Yes, I can”, Saru shot back, “And you don’t even know what callous means.”

“Yes, I do.”

“No, you don’t.”

“Yes.”

“No.”

“Yes.”

“No.”

“Yes.”

“No.”

Ahsoka squeezed her hand and Karina couldn’t help but smile back.

Maybe things will get better.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hoo-boy! It's been a while.
> 
> So, I had two other drafts for this chapter. Both that I discarded.  
> 1 - Karina gets killed and Ahsoka and Qui-Gon carry that guilt for the rest of their lives, always wondering if there was another way.  
> 2 - Karina escapes, consequently escaping confronting her mistakes.  
> Neither worked well for the greater scope of the story. So, Karina is alive and forced to confront the results of her actions both conscious and subconscious.
> 
> Also, this is just one of those incidents that marks one of the points in time where Qui-Gon moves further away from the rigidity of the Jedi Order. It really isn't hard to imagine that incidents such as this forced him rethink and then later rebel in canon.
> 
> And on top of that, I forgot my own rules for writing a fight scene and wrote some garbage that needed to be rewritten.
> 
> Read, enjoy and stay safe!


	16. Masters and apprentices

“Master Jinn?” Ahsoka asked, shuffling nervously in the rock garden where Master Jinn was clearly trying to meditate.

“Yes, Ahsoka?” he asked from where he sat cross-legged and was staring at the rocks and gravel.

Ahsoka shuffled nervously again. It had only been two rotations since they returned from Corellia and she wanted to speak to Master Jinn. Obi-Wan was in class, otherwise she would have dragged him here with her because she couldn’t find the courage or the words at the moment.

Finally, she asked, “Are you ok?”

Master Jinn looked up at her. His eyes were really blue, she noted, like the skies of Shili in summer.

“Yes, I am well. Thank you, Little Ashoka”, he managed to say with a smile.

This caused her to frown. He was lying. There was something jagged and sharp inside him. She could hear it in his heartbeat, in his breath, _in his feelings_.

And then she told him the words she had really wanted to tell him. “You wouldn’t have killed her”, she said it firmly, like it were a fact, “Even if that was what was required, you wouldn’t have killed her.”

That seemed to shake Master Jinn out of whatever stupor he was in. He took in a shaky breath. “Thank you, Padawan.”

“Stop that, Master”, she finally snapped, “I told you, didn’t I? You always say one thing, but what you mean is completely different. And you keep smiling even when you don’t want to. You keep confusing all of us.”

When Master Jinn did not answer, Ahsoka was the one who took in a deep breath.

“I always knew things”, she said, “I knew things I wasn’t supposed to know. It is difficult to explain, but I just know things I’m not supposed to know. And I know you wouldn’t have killed Karina, Master. You’re just bad at talking to people.”

She was out of breath by the end. But Master Jinn looked at her oddly. After a few minutes, he let out a chuckle.

“That I am, young one”, he said softly, “That I am.”

Feeling bolder, Ahsoka shuffled closer to him and sat down on a rock beside him. “What are you doing?” she asked curiously.

“I was meditating”, he replied, “Or at least trying to.”

Ahsoka looked at him curiously. His posture had been wrong, he hadn’t separated himself from the world. He eyes were wide open and very aware.

Master Jinn must have read her mind because he chuckled. “It’s called moving meditation”, he said.

_“It’s called moving meditation”, he chuckled as he screwed on the cover for the R4 unit, “Not everyone can sit still, but that’s fine. Meditation is less about sitting still and more about improving your focus, sorting out your thoughts and simply introspecting. You do it to improve your awareness and attention span and even achieve a mentally clear and emotionally stable state. So, if you get all of that by doing something, by focusing on finishing something, no one should begrudge you that.” He looked up at the gunships docked in the hangar, “Poets, artists, writers, engineers, craftsmen – so many of them created their best work when they were in this state.”_

“Oh, it’s like when I’m in the workshop”, she realised, “Or when I’m practicing katas.”

“Yes. For me, it is gardening”, the Master replied, “That state of mind you reach when you are both meditating and completing something to perfection is called ‘Flow’.” He stood up and gestured to her to do the same. “Would you like me to show you how to arrange a rock garden?”

Ahsoka stood up and dusted herself off. “Yes, Master”, she beamed.

Half an hour later she came to regret it.

“Master, Ahsoka?” Obi-Wan’s voice asked curiously. Ahsoka looked up to see him standing at the edge of the garden. There was an odd look on his face, like he was angry or…

That didn’t matter though. “Obi”, she cried, close to tears, “Help! There are too many rules.”

The strange look disappeared from his face, easily replaced by confusion. “What?”

Master Jinn chuckled from where he was placing a round rock on top of another flatter one. “Why, you were doing so well, little one! Join us, Padawan.”

Obi-Wan hesitantly removed his boots and stepped onto the gravel. “What are we doing?” he asked hesitantly, as if he was wondering if was going to regret what he just asked.

“Oh, my dear Padawan, let me teach you the intricacies of a rock garden”, he began and started instructing his apprentice on the various rules that needed to be followed strictly.

Ahsoka took the opportunity to sneak away and sit on a moss covered rock. She watched in awe as her friend lit up and nodded his head at everything he was learning. And then he proceeded to go around, raking the gravel in patters and place rocks around.

Figures Obi-Wan would take to it like a Nautolan to water.

The young Togruta was content to just sit and watch them. A while later, Master Yoda quietly joined her on the rock.

*****

Five days later, she stood outside the bounds of the rock garden scuffing her boot against the mosaic embedded into the floor. The pattern was of a bouquet of crimson flowers, their vines intertwined and locked in an intricate knot. Each piece of tile, each groove running between them fascinated her.

It was one of the many common motifs in the temple. It represented the Jedi way of life, where people from various species and cultures came together to create a new family, each intertwined in the life of every other. It was also a representation of the Jedi philosophy, each living being a fragment of the Force, intertwined with the great cosmic entity majestically and incomprehensibly.

Master Yoda sat cross-legged on the floor and waited patiently for her.

“Personalise your space, you must”, he had told her a little while ago, “Materialism is vain. But Jedi we are. Celebrate life, we do. Representation of life, of culture, of philosophy, art is.”

She hadn’t thought of it much. For some reason, she had kept her room bare.

She looked down at her clothes. Red, oranges and greens were the colours favoured by her people because they were the colours of vitality. Blues, yellows and purples were used as accents because they represented calmness, serenity and the greater whole.

Grey was a neutral colour. _A blank slate,_ Master Ti had told her. Togruta were a very social species and could easily adapt to and adopt various aspects of other cultures. The fact that Ahsoka had subconsciously chosen grey on which designs, Togruti and foreign, could be added was representative of her. Or so Master Ti had said. It was hard to understand what the older Togruta meant.

But she had been detached from her culture for so long, only remembering the Akul teeth, her mother’s trills of comfort and the delicate steps of a dance Teacher Nea had taught her that she incorporated into her lightsaber routine. She had thought it would be enough.

“I don’t know what to do, Master”, she said quietly.

“No need there is to rush now”, he replied. He then slowly got to his feet and pointed at her lightsabers with his can, “Found the pieces for your lightsabers you did. Find the pieces for your room you will, when it is time. Making you aware, I was.”

Ahsoka understood then.

“On Corellia, that Academy was made of glass”, she said, “We all hated that place.”

The castle made of glass and steel that had no identity of its own, that grated on their senses, that left them feeling exposed and open to scrutiny. The Academy had done nothing to expose its own history, its achievements. There was nothing carved into the hallways, only the scores of the current students, as if the children there were nothing more than the sum total of what they learnt there.

“Worried I was to hear of such stagnancy”, Master Yoda replied, “Art, science, philosophy – all are cherished by the Jedi.”

He then looked out at the rock garden before him. The rocks were stacked in cairns of varying sizes based on very strict rules of placement. Lines were drawn in the gravel to create miniature dunes that created circular geometric patterns.

But Ahsoka looked at the greater ziggurat that made up her home. Between a place with no windows and one with too many, what was the choice?

*****

Three days later, Ahsoka was training to use the Force with Master Yoda watching quietly from the corner of the room. She struggled to move the sand, simply blowing it over until the entire floor was covered in a layer of it.

It was easier to lift large objects because anyone could comprehend them. Only the weight of the object and the strength of the Force-user limited that ability.

But when the object in question was actually a collection of individual grains of minute sand particles that needed to be scooped up in one go? This was a lesson in precision and spatial awareness that she seemed to be failing at.

“Do or do not, there is no try”, Master Yoda had said. There was probably more context to those words, but currently, she could not understand them.

_“What does that even mean?” she cried, “You need to try something before you can actually do it!”_

_“It means, my young Padawan”, he replied with a smug smile, “That you shouldn’t second-guess or hesitate. In life, you can’t afford to be indecisive.”_

She shook her head and grabbed hold of her temple. The Force was proving itself to be an annoying, conveniently omnipresent friend that can help you cheat to pass your tests.

She touched the sand in front of her. It was soft, softer than anything she had ever touched, but incredibly pliant. And it got everywhere from the creases between her fingers to wrinkles in her clothes.

So far, she had tried to scoop up the sand by shaping the Force into a bowl. That had resulted in her spilling everything on to the floor through the gaps in the air bubble she had left. Perhaps that was wrong. There were millions of particles of sand in front of her and she had to raise all of them. That also gave her the advantage of having a sturdier grasp of sand as a whole.

So she closed her eyes and focused. The soft rustle of each particle against the other was enough. It drew a picture in her mind of a cluster of particles, each unique with a shape, colour and texture of their own. And she enveloped them all with the Force. Once they were all in her hold, she lifted them.

She opened her eyes to see not a ball or screen of sand. No, what she saw was each individual particle floating in the air around her not unlike stars in space.

“Well done, Padawan”, Master Yoda smiled.

*****

The darkness ate at him. There was no light here. Just lifeless husks that couldn’t even be considered corpses.

His Master’s hand on the back of his hand was all the guidance he had.

And when he breathed, the ash filled his nose and throat, flowed down to clog his lungs. He sputtered and coughed, but Master’s hand only tightened on his head.

He looked up burning, tearing eyes to see other figures in front of him. There were dressed in mild coloured robes. And when they ignited their lightsabers, he saw so many colours that he didn’t even know exist – blue, green, yellow.

Before he could even comprehend what was going on, one of the figures raised his lightsaber and rushed at him. The saber scored a line across his chest.

And it **burned.**

Oh, how it burned!

His Master’s hand on his head was the only thing that kept him from falling.

Soon, more lightsabers struck him, slashing across his arms, legs and torso – each adding a new layer of agony to his mind. He saw many of his brethren fall, red lights extinguished to leave behind mere shadows.

He opened his mouth and screamed.

The flare of purple that lit up the sky, but wasn’t really there, roared.

And more ash filled his mouth.

His eyes watered, his throat ached as he screamed and screamed and screamed…

These monsters, they needed to be annihilated. He would avenge his brothers and sisters. That was his purpose, his Master said so.

And he burned and burned and burned…

*****

Ten days after, Yoda felt the presence creep across the temple. He chuckled to himself. Younglings and their brightness always amazed him. And the brightness of his Padawan in the Force was rather unique. But her light was especially luminous today.

He sensed her pass confidently through the corridors and also sensed the surprise of the ones who seemed to see her. He also sensed the hint of mischief in her.

Ah, what did she have in mind today?

A few minutes later, his bell rang. He called out his permission to enter and enter she did. Along with five extra-large cloth sacks floating behind her.

Yoda had only a second to look at the fanged smile on her face before she upended one bag over his head.

He sputtered as a wave of soft, colourful, fragrant flowers fell over him. The wave stopped after what felt like an eternity and he spat out the few that had managed to enter his mouth.

He looked up ready to ask for a reason why she had turned him into a flower decoration when she upended the second bag on him.

This time he managed to keep his mouth closed. “Ahsoka”, he managed to scold the moment the downpour ended.

She dumped the third, fourth and fifth bags simultaneously on his head.

And the moment they emptied, she turned around and ran.

He looked around at the sea of flowers in his room. One that he was sure he would drown in.

He then started cackling uncontrollably.

Oh, did the youngling really think she could outrun the Grandmaster of the Jedi Order? He was old, not slow!

*****

The Jedi temple was the epitome of serenity in the chaos of the city planet of Coruscant. The great halls, the labyrinthine corridors, the vast gardens and the peaceful rooms were parts of an oasis meant to soothe the heart and the soul. The quietness permeated through every rock and rebar, every nook and cranny, every mind and body.

Until a Togruta came barrelling down a corridor with all the brilliance of a blazing comet hurtling through space on a collision course with a planet to cause an extinction level event.

And she collided with Obi-Wan.

For the umpteenth time in his short-life, Obi-Wan was given a very clear view of the dark ceilings of the Jedi temple hanging at least thirty feet above him. He let out a sigh in resignation.

“Ahsoka, what did you do?” he asked even as the girl scrambled to her feet.

“Uh, nothing too serious, I promise”, she smiled and looked around frantically. Obi-Wan decided to take his time sitting up.

“Padawan!” Master Yoda’s voice echoed throughout the corridors, making Obi-Wan and every other Initiate, Padawan, Knight and Master in the vicinity jump at least five feet in the air and stand at rigid military attention.

Ahsoka made a sound that could be translated as “ASDFERWFGFWYTYYUHJFDGVGWEREWR”, and jumped onto the railing with a clear intention to jump down below and hit the ground running.

If she hadn’t been suspended in mid-air with her feet kicking around that is.

“Running away, hmm?” Master Yoda asked with his clawed hand stretched out and a wicked gleam in his eyes, “Nine hundred years too young, you are.”

He then hobbled away, Ahsoka floating awkwardly in the air behind him.

*****

Qui-Gon Jinn was unusually happy as he hurried them down the corridor. That meant three types headaches for Mace Windu.

But when he reached the foyer he saw Depa smiling happily with a group of younglings as she taught them how to weave flower crowns. Beside her, a blue Twi’lek youngling was busy stringing a garland of pink flowers with her tongue sticking out of the corner of her mouth.

It was unusual to see so many Initiates, Padawans, Knights and Masters in one place. But to see them sitting around a mountain of colourful flowers – which, if knowledge served him right, were of the hardy variety – arranging bouquets, weaving crowns and stringing garlands was something he didn’t think any Jedi Master could have ever foreseen.

Some of the Masters, like Masters Ki-Adi Mundi and Jocasts Nu, were instructing the younger ones on the various types of flowers, where they grew, how to care for them and so on. Others were arguing about which floral combinations were the best, the discussion between Master Plo Koon and Shaak Ti seemed particularly heated. Some younglings were throwing flowers at each other, Padawans Fisto and Vos specifically.

And then there was the odd Master Dooku, who wasn’t actually doing anything but just sipping his tea and watching all the others around him.

But that did beg the question.

“Where did we get so many flowers?” he asked.

“Oh, Senator Byrne ordered these flowers from Ms Aoife for her daughter’s wedding tomorrow”, Padawan Tano chirped.

 _When did she get there?_ he thought as he looked down at the Togruta standing next to him.

“But then cancelled the arrangements at the last minute”, the girl continued, “And Ms Aoife was really distraught because she spent a lot of money to get them from Alderaan and she was facing a huge loss. So I took them.”

Mace Windu raised his eyebrow at her. Aoife Móinéar was the nurserywoman who helped the Jedi Order in selling their saplings to various suppliers. It wasn’t a surprise that Tano being a Council Padawan knew of her, especially since she helped with the logistics. But of course, as characteristic of her (and all the Jedi really), she went and befriended the woman.

“And how did you intend to pay her again?” he asked, wondering how much of the budget he should allocate to the ever loyal nurserywoman who was effectively cheated out of a legitimate deal and probably could not get any compensation due to the status of her former customer.

“I already paid her”, she replied brightly.

That brought him up short. “Did you pay her from your savings?” he asked sharply.

The girl must have sensed something from him because she got hesitant. “Um, yes?”

Mace took in a large breath and let it out. “Padawan, you need to manage your savings better. They can help you when you really need them”, he lectured. She looked at him with wide blue eyes, so he continued with a softer tone, “I understand you wanted to help a citizen in need. However, before you went ahead with your action, why didn’t you consult with us? Did you think we wouldn’t have done the same to help her?”

The young Togruta looked chastised at that. “I’m sorry, Master Windu”, she said as she looked down, “I didn’t think that. I just… forgot.”

At that Mace let out a sigh. “You should always consult with others before making big decisions”, he replied and awkwardly patted her head, wondering if he was doing it the right way. He had certainly heard a lot about how montrals and lekku need to not be touched, but he had seen several Masters pat her on the head.

He must have done it right, because the girl then beamed up at him. “Ok, Master Windu!”

He was pretty sure he saw Master Yoda smirking at him, while sitting serenely among the chittering younglings.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun Fact: Ahsoka is a variation of the Sanskrit “Ashoka” that means “the one without sorrow”. In Vedic Sanskrit, the origin of sorrow is “Taṇhā” or craving. There are three types as explained in this [article](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ta%E1%B9%87h%C4%81). Each of the three types not so surprisingly relates to Anakin and at least two of them relate to the Jedi as a whole. “Ashoka” is the one who overcomes “Taṇhā” to become free of the cycle of “Saṃsāra” (death and rebirth) and attain “Nirvana” (true salvation, enlightenment and transcendence).
> 
> The point is this: Holy Hell, did Lucas do his homework!!
> 
> I really appreciate all the work Lucas and the entire crew put into developing cultures, their philosophies and really fleshing out the Galaxy. I mean, just look at every location in the Prequels. The architecture, statues, murals, inlays, mosaics... Like wow!  
> Even each individual Jedi's clothing...  
> And then we have the Old Republic lightsaber designs...  
> I can't emphasize how rare this passion is in the entertainment industry. If you don't know what I mean, just look at this [video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tL5sX8VmvB8) for an example of lackluster worldbuilding.  
> Damn, I'm one of the nerds fangirling over the Art-Science-Philosophy combo, because contrary to popular belief, all three of them are intricately intertwined in each other. And people who study one should at least take the time to understand the other two!
> 
> Now, based on the above rant, it is my interpretation that the Jedi were inherently good and compassionate people. They were also incredibly educated in various aspects of life. However, they got complacent. The more their philosophies were iterated, the more they were creatively interpreted. And the more they grew obedient to the most prominent school of thought.  
> Thing is, this happens in real life too.
> 
> Take Hinduism for example. The core philosophy of the religion is actually Monothestic, where Brahman is the Ultimate Reality and Shakti is the primordial cosmic energy that powers it. Each God, Demon, human, plant and animal is a fragment of the Brahman and possesses varying degrees of Shakti. But later down the line, due to a combination of a lack of access to knowledge and the influence of men who wanted to stay in power, the religion evolved into the Polystheistic version it is today.
> 
> And going further with this example, when the practice of Hinduism started getting toxic and stagnant (overemphasis of caste system and idol worship), several reform movements rose in response to challenge these negative ideals propagated by men in power.
> 
> So, my argument in the end is, the Jedi Order could have done with a reform movement. They did not ever deserve genocide like a lot of the fandom thinks.
> 
> This does not take in the fact that the Jedi seem to have a role in the Republic's security and administrative infrastructure. So their flaws regarding that will be a discussion for another day.
> 
> On another note, it is clear that Dave Filoni had intended to base Ahsoka on peace-time Samurai, i.e. both a scholar and warrior. She is quite Roninesque in canon.  
> And that's the characterization I am happily following.


	17. Too big, too small

The little grey droid with yellow accents quietly rolled his way into the workshop. The early morning was silent and dark with most of the Jedi still resting. This side of the planet had yet to see the sun even if it was busy round-the-chrono. And while the gigantic stone walls did a lot to keep out the sound of speeders zooming past, some of the sound waves still slipped in through the open mechanic’s bay.

The little droid rolled past a table full of tools and an arc welder, around two dismantled speeders, behind a collection of empty fuel cells and to the source of the muffled bangs and scrapes in the workshop well-lit by soft lights.

The young Togruta was busy banging out the dents from the dismantled undershield of a Rian-327 airspeeder. Her face was twisted into an expression that his databank told him was exasperation. It scared him a little.

So he approached her slowly and made sure to beep to avoid startling her. Startling an organic was a sure way to get a wrench to the head, or that was what C1-P8 had said.

The Organic must have heard him because she immediately turned around and her expression changed into one that his databank identified as happiness.

“Cheep!” she called out, “What are you doing out of your charging station so early?”

 _You are up early too_ , he beeped his reply, _Organics need more time to recharge._

“I’m fine”, she grumbled. Her smile slipped off her face and she went back to banging out the dents with a hammer.

At that CH-33P, or ‘Cheep’ as he had been designated by said Organic, quietly rolled up to the speeder and began to unscrew and dislodge another dented panel. This one must have been the speeder used by one of the older Jedi Organics he worked with, one of the many who did not know how to pilot. He hoped it would never be the case with the Organic he chose to serve.

But then again, she was always found here at odd times, fixing whatever issue she could find exactly at the times he noted that her body language showed signs of restlessness.

The planet had spun its way to face the system’s sun by the time they were done screwing the shields back into place and cleaning out the fuel and exhaust pipes. They were both covered in grease, oil, paint and a fine layer of dust. He browsed through his databanks to find out which was easier to clean, sentient skin or metallic plates. And when got his answer, he began beeping and hurrying his little Organic to her quarters to clean herself up.

“Fine”, she grumbled at him, “I’m going. I’m going.”

He could understand and appreciate the older Organics’ emphasis on punctuality and cleanliness. It ensures the smooth working of any being, mechanical or organic.

*****

Seventeen paces.

That was the distance between the two walls in Master Yoda’s room.

It had been twenty eight paces when she had first stepped in here. Then twenty two.

Now, it was seventeen paces from one wall to the other while facing perpendicular to the door. And the round cushions that her Master favoured were about twelve paces from the door and the back wall was a good twenty five still.

Of course, there were standard measurements she could have used to measure the dimensions of the room. But she didn’t want to, she wanted to measure in terms of her paces.

And this petulance made her feel embarrassed, because she was no longer a babe. She wasn’t even a youngling.

And that made her annoyed that she was feeling embarrassed over something so stupid. It was just a measurement she was making in her head. What was wrong with that?

And that made her annoyed, because the entire debate was completely pointless. She should be doing something important… like… Meditating!

But she didn’t want to…

And then she was back to feeling even more embarrassed and annoyed.

It was a vicious cycle she couldn’t seem to get out of.

One to seventeen, she counted as she walked from the south wall to the north. One to seventeen she counted when she walked back.

Like a caged dire-cat…

With fists clenching and unclenching…

And her own voice chastising her under her breath.

… fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, turn back. One, two, three, four…

“Restless, are you, Padawan?” Master Yoda suddenly asked.

She startled so badly that she leapt into the air as her heart skipped several beats. And before her mind could catch up, she had turned toward the door, lips pulled back in a snarl to reveal her fangs. A low rumble originated from her chest.

But Master Yoda looked on unfazed, hands overlapping each other on top of the cane he held in front of him.

A minute later, she was embarrassed yet again.

“Sorry, Master”, she mumbled as she fidgeted with her hands in front of her and scuffed the floor with her boots.

Her Master looked at her, examined every detail of her.

She just knew that he was taking in the way her stubby montrals were sharpening into points, the way her lekku was curling a little lower than her chin, the way the stripes on both her montrals and lekku were splitting. She knew he was looking at the way her collarbones were growing more prominent, the way she tried to hunch in on herself to keep her chest out of sight.

She knew the signs he was looking for because those were the same signs she had noticed a few days ago.

“Yeah, I’m going through puberty”, she drawled in annoyance.

At Master Yoda’s startled look, but then his face twisted and melded into something she could not recognise.

Why could she not recognise it? Why did he make himself unreadable?

Why wasn’t he saying anything?

Her Master held out his clawed hand. “Breathe with me Padawan”, he stated softly.

The words were like a hot rod down her spine because of how unexpected they were.

 _What did you expect?_ her mind whispered traitorously.

A clawed hand clasped her own. She looked up into the large, worried eyes of her Master. And only then did she realise that she was breathing hard, almost on the verge of hyperventilating.

“Breathe with me, Padawan”, he said softly. He then took in a deep breath.

Ahsoka mimicked it.

And when he let it out a couple of seconds later, she mimicked that too.

Master and Padawan spent the rest of the afternoon matching deep, slow breaths.

*****

_A difficult age for any child, let alone one with her sense of empathy. You were quite difficult yourself._

That voice was familiar, but she couldn’t recognise it.

The name was there, Ahsoka knew it, right at the edge of her memory.

Her perception of the real world had changed. She was calculating the hyperspace route, but she wasn’t really putting much thought into it. Like putting her lightsabers back together again, like flying a speeder, like using the Force to find the safest route possible.

 _What you just mentioned requires conscious thought too,_ the voice echoed in her head. It sounded amused, _None of them should really be subconscious actions._

She had huffed at that voice, a long time ago.

But when?

*****

The Senate building rose far above the upper level like a giant Felucian domed mushroom. Only, this one was a dull grey as opposed to the warm burgundy of the actual mushroom.

It was strange that even though Ahsoka lived on Coruscant and even though she was the Padawan of the Grandmaster of the Jedi Order with the responsibility of helping with the many administrative tasks around the temple, she hadn’t really seen the Senate building. Yet, she recognised it, had a vague feeling of remembering it and could tell the layout of each floor without really looking at any of the plans.

One of her most prominent thoughts was of the actual Galactic Senate Chamber. An amphitheater-like room, only enclosed, with several thousand repulsorpods lining the walls, each a representation of a system in the Galactic Republic.

However, what baffled her was that, she remembered that all Senate hearings were conducted at the top of the room. So, who were assigned to the repulsorpods at the bottom of the chamber?

Then there was the courtroom, for the Senatorial Judiciary. Calling it large was an understatement. It was a chamber built to house titans, with chambers carved into the walls for the judge and jury. The defendants were made to stand on floating platforms suspended so high that the bottom of the chambers were lost to darkness. Gigantic screens displayed the defendant as a spectacle for all who could see. All of these were a deliberate choice to make the defendant uncomfortable in their own skin.

The images that her mind conjured up made her shiver.

It may have only been her opinion, but none of this seemed free or just to her.

If that hadn’t unsettled her, then the feeling of foreboding she experienced at the mere sight of it as she, Master Yoda, Master Windu and Padawan Depa approached it on a speeder did. It was akin to her stomach dropping to her feet.

Thankfully, they were visiting the Republic Executive Building. It was a dome close to the Senate Building and within the Senate district. And as the speeder cut through the paths across the gardens, a different sort of foreboding fit her stomach.

She just hoped that she could get through the day without another episode.

*****

He had noticed it. Of course, he had noticed it. The moment he greeted the Jedi, the Togruta stiffened up before forcing her body to relax.

He would have almost thought that his shielding had fallen short and that it was only a matter of time if it weren’t for her Masters who obviously saw the change in her demeanour and yet waved it off.

And they did wave if off, rather than pretend to wave it off. It was clear in the sincerity they projected in the Force. They genuinely thought it was something like the crowd or the noise that bothered her. He would have chortled if it were not inappropriate.

“Greetings, Master Yoda, Master Windu”, he greeted with a genial smile and gentle eyes.

All the Jedi turned to him, but the Togruta was the first to do so. And she made sure that her eyes lingered somewhere along his collarbone. He listed ever so slightly to the side and saw her eyes track him.

 _What an interesting child_ , he thought.

“I take it your visit was pleasant?” he said aloud.

“As pleasant as can be, Representative Palpatine”, Young Windu replied. He always did hate politics, and only played nice when he absolutely had to. That made him easy to manipulate. He would need to see if he could do anything to ensure this man stayed in power on the Jedi Council.

“Ah, always a tiresome trial it is to attend the world of politics”, he said in the same courtly manner, “I imagine more could be done if words were a little more straightforward.”

A risky statement, but a calculated one, especially in front of those naïvely idealistic. He could see the other Human Padawan just barely stop herself from nodding her head. But as he suspected, the Togruta barely moved.

This one seemed to have strong instincts.

“Serving the Republic, our duty is”, Yoda answered him this time, “Co-operation, the fastest course to action is.”

Of course he nodded his head in agreement. As he thought before, naïvely idealistic.

That did not mean he could be careful.

Especially when one so young kept the full force of her focus on him.

“That I agree with, Master Yoda”, he replied, “I shall no longer keep you from your duties, Masters.” With a graceful bow, he graciously made his exit.

The game of power requires tremendous patience and planning.

He would need to impress upon them soon, but not yet. And he would need to keep an eye on the girl as well.

*****

It was a universal rule that you will find typographic errors after you have submitted or published your work no matter how many reviews you subjected it to before submission or publication.

It was one of the greatest mysteries of the universe, and one that sentients did not even attempt to solve due to the futility of the effort involved.

Just like another age-old law that stated that anything that could go wrong will go wrong when we least expect it.

And right now, an embarrassed and frustrated Ahsoka was doing her best to fix all the errors in her 2000 word essay about the Ruusan Reformation that were pointed out by Master Yoda. She had been working on this essay for the better part of the week and it was really humiliating. At least Master Yoda made sure to correct her in the privacy of her quarters.

She was just reviewing her opinion on the dissolution of the Republican Military when her montrals picked up a strange pattern of breath.

It was mechanical wheeze that was deep on the inhale and whistled with the exhale.

And it was very familiar.

A cold chill swept down her spine.

She knew that sound.

Grabbing the lightsabers that were placed on her desk, she made her way to the door and stepped out.

The breathing sound was louder without the walls and door of her room to obstruct it.

She looked to her left, down a darkened corridor. It was late into the night and most were asleep. The soft white lights of the corridor did the bare minimum to light up the path.

Against her better judgement, she made her way toward the sound.

A deep inhale.

A whistling exhale.

One step, then another.

Closer still, the sound grew louder.

She made her steps lighter until each was barely a whisper.

A deep inhale.

A whistling exhale.

The corridor grew darker.

The shadows lining it looked like people.

But then they seemed to have fallen down and not got up. Some of them seemed armored, others looked like they had been scared.

A deep inhale.

A whistling exhale.

Phantom screams echoed in her montrals. She clutched her lightsabers tighter and brought them up in a ready.

And soon, between one breath and the next, she found herself standing in front of a mound. A mound made of bodies that stared at her with lifeless eyes as gentle light streamed down from a hole in the ceiling.

And on top of that mound, stood a figure so dark that it pulled in all the light surrounding it.

A deep inhale.

A whistling exhale.

A black hand slowly lifted in its side.

There was a click and a very familiar buzz. A red lightsaber came to life.

“Apprentice”, the figure called out to her, a mechanical echo of a voice that was once warm.

Her breath caught in a strangled grasp and she clambered backwards as fast as she could.

The figure glided down the mound, not caring about the corpses it was stepping on.

“No”, she whispered as the figure approached her faster than she could retreated. It raised its other hand toward her.

“NO!” she screamed as she ignited both her white lightsabers and lashed out.

The darkness dissipated, and she found herself standing in one of the many gardens in the temple. The mound was no longer there, replaced with tiled pathways, plants and moss-covered rocks. The light from the busy cityscape streamed in, bathing in a soft silver.

It took her minute to realise that she was breathing hard. She struggled to even out her breath and realised that there were tears streaming down her eyes.

“No”, she cried softly, even though she didn’t understand what the denial is for.

A sudden beep behind her made her nearly jump out of her skin. She spun around, lightsabers ignited and ready…

And came face-to-dome with Cheep.

Embarrassed that she was found out in this state, she furiously rubbed at her eyes.

She did not say anything, she couldn’t. And to her surprise and gratefulness, neither did the little droid. Instead he just held out one of his pincer-shaped grasping arm.

Ahsoka clutched it like the lifeline it was as the droid gently led her back to her room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back!
> 
> For those of you waiting for any updates, I am so sorry. Work kept me busy, and I am unfortunately one of the lowest cogs in the grand machinery of blood-sucking corporations that fuel the life-draining capitalist culture of the modern digital era.
> 
> That said, here is a new chapter.


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